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THE 


MEMORIAL    HISTORY 


HARTFORD  COUNTY 


CONNECTICUT 


St^ee-^ 


THE 

MEMORIAL    HISTORY 

OF 

HARTFORD    COUNTY 

CONNECTICUT 
1633-1884 


EDITED 

By  J.    HAMMOND    TRUMBULL    LL.D. 

President  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society 


IN    TWO     VOLUMES 

Vol.  I. 
HARTFORD 

COUNTY     TOWN     AND    CITY 

PROJECTED   BY  CLARENCE  P.  JEWETT 


BOSTON 

EDWARD    L.    OSGOOD    PUBLISHER 

1886 


v.  \ 


Copyright,  1886, 
By  George    Draper. 


All  rights  reserved. 


y 


SRntbcrsttg  IDuss : 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


EDITOR'S    PREFACE. 


"  rTlHE  initial  point  of  the  history  of  the  Colony  and  State, 
-*-  and  especially  of  the  '  Towns  upon  the  River,'  whose 
planters  framed  the  first  constitution  of  Connecticut  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  her  civil  and  political  institutions,"  is,  as 
was  said  in  the  first  announcement  of  these  volumes,  the  issue 
of  the  Earl  of  Warwick's  grant,  known  as  the  "  Old  Patent " 
of  Connecticut,  March  19,  1631  (March  29,  1632,  new  style); 
and  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  that  date 
seemed  a  fitting  occasion  for  the  publication  of  a  "Memorial 
History  "  of  a  county  whose  earlier  history  is  inseparable  from 
that  of  the  Colony  and  State.  Difficulties  of  obtaining  such  co- 
operation as  was  required  to  insure  the  permanent  value  and 
interest  of  the  work,  unavoidable  failures  and  delays  in  securing 
promised  contributions,  as  well  as  other  causes  which  need  not 
be  mentioned  here,  have  postponed  the  completion  of  the 
History  until  now,  —  a  few  weeks  after  the  two  hundred  and 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  first  organization  of  civil  government 
in  Connecticut,  by  the  first  meeting  of  the  Court  of  Commis- 
sioners for  the  River  Towns  "  holden  att  Newton"  (now 
Hartford),  April   26  (new  style,  May  6),  1636. 

The  delay,  however  much  to  be  regretted  by  the  publishers 
and  the  editor,  has  not  been  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  completed 
work.  It  has  enabled  the  writers  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
results  of  the  census  of  1880,  and  thereby,  in  many  particulars, 


VI  PEEFACE. 

to  advance  nearly  a  decade  on  information  attainable  in  1881 ; 
it  lias  secured  important  contributions  which  could  not  earlier 
have  been  had  ;  and,  so  far  as  the  wants  of  general  readers 
are  concerned,  it  has  added  to  the  immediate  interest  of  the 
history  without  detracting  from  its  permanent  value. 

In  undertaking  this  work  the  publishers,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  editor,  stipulated  that,  "  in  typographical  execution  and  in 
the  fulness  and  excellence  of  the  illustrations,  it  should  be  equal 
to  its  model,"  the  "Memorial  History  of  Boston."  That  this 
engagement  has  been  carried  out  to  the  letter  we  think  will 
not  be  questioned. 


Hartford,  June,  1886. 


PUBLISHERS    NOTE. 


rpHE  publishers  of  the  Memorial  History  of  Hartford 
-*~-  County  take  pleasure  in  presenting  to  its  subscribers  — 
after  numerous  inevitable  delays  —  a  work  of  two  handsome 
volumes,  several  hundred  pages  larger  than  the  prospectus  called 
for,  which  they  believe  will  in  other  respects  also  equally  exceed 
the  public  expectation.  Dr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  the  accom- 
plished scholar  and  historian,  who  has  been  its  editor  from  the 
beginning,  has  carefully  superintended  its  execution.  He  has 
read,  annotated,  and  corrected  every  page  of  the  great  work 
except  the  chapter  in  Vol.  I.  by  Miss  Mary  K.  Talcott  on  the 
"Original  Proprietors,"  which  is  made  up  largely  from  his  own 
notes  and  memoranda.  And  it  should  be  added  here  that  Dr. 
Trumbull's  many  and  very  valuable  notes  upon  the  early  his- 
tory of  Hartford  have  been  put  by  him  at  the  disposal  of  the 
various  contributors  engaged  upon  their  special  topics. 

Dr.  Trumbull's  peculiar  fitness  for  this  task  is  recognized 
by  all  who  know  him.  It  was  the  unanimous  wish  of  the  many 
gentlemen  interested  in  the  work  when  it  was  projected,  that  he 
should  take  such  charge  of  it ;  and  in  his  editorship  the  book 
has  received  the  corrections  and  approval  of  unquestionably  the 
leading  historical  authority  in  Connecticut. 

It  will  be  found  to  be  fully  and  handsomely  illustrated  ;  and 
in  addition  to  the  portraits  included  in  the  text,  there  will  be 
found  about  seventy  fine  steel  portraits,  especially  engraved  for 
this  work,  of  citizens   of  the  county,  living  or  dead,  including 


viii  PUBLISHER'S    NOTE. 

such  representative  men  as  Dr.  Bushnell,  Dr.  Gallaudet,  the 
Wolcotts,  Gideon  Welles,  John  M.  Niles,  Marshall  Jewell,  Colonel 
Colt,  Noah  Porter,  Dr.  Barnard,  Noah  Webster,  Elihu  Burritt, 
Chief  Justice  Williams,  Dr.  Trumbull,  Junius  S.  Morgan,  James 
Goodwin,  and  many  others.  The  only  essential  change  in  the 
work  since  it  was  projected  has  been  its  embellishment  by  these 
portraits  and  many  views,  which  were  not  originally  contem- 
plated, and  which  the  subscribers  receive  without  additional 
expense.  The  entire  artistic  superintendence  of  the  work,  from 
the  beginning,  has  been  with  Mr.  A.  V.  S.  Anthony,  so  long  at  the 
head  of  the  art  department  of  the  well-known  firm  of  James  R. 
Osgood  &  Company  ;  and  this  is  a  sufficient  guaranty  of  the 
high  quality  of  the  work. 

The  publishers  take  this  opportunity  to  express  their  grati- 
tude to  Dr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  and  to  his  assistant  Mr. 
Charles  Hopkins  Clark,  for  their  labors  upon  the  work,  and 
also  to  the  numerous  contributors  who  have  lent  their  valuable 
services  to  making  up  a  suitable  memorial  history. 

The  publication  of  this  work  was  undertaken  by  James  R. 
Osgood  &  Company,  and  upon  the  dissolution  of  that  firm  all 
their  interest  therein  was  transferred  to  Mr.  George  Draper. 

The  undersigned,  one  of  the  partners  in  the  late  firm  of 
James  R.  Osgood  &  Company,  is  acting  as  the  representative 
of  Mr.  Draper  in  the  publication  of  this  History. 

EDWARD  L.   OSGOOD. 


CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTEATIONS. 


fart  I.  —  £hc  County 

CHAPTER   I. 

Page 
General  Description  op  Hartford  County.     By  Charles  L.  Burdett  .     .       1 

Illustrations  :  Map  of  Hartford  County  ;  Trap  Dyke  at  "  Stone  pits,"  2. 

CHAPTER  II  — Early  History. 

Section      I.  —  Indians   of  the  Connecticut  Valley.     By  J.  Hammond 

Trumbull,  LL.D ' 11 

II.  —  The  Dutch  Traders  on  the  River  ;  and  the  House  of 

Hope.     By  the  Bev.  Increase  JV.  Tarbox,  D.D 15 

III. — How  the  River  Towns  came  to   be   Planted.      By  the 

Rev.  Increase  N.  Tarbox,  D.D 19 

CHAPTER  III.  — The  River  Towns,  1635-1666. 

BY   THE   REV.    INCREASE    N.    TARBOX,    D.D. 

Section      I.  —  Organization  of  Civil  Government 37 

II.  —  Character  and  Social  Position  of  the  Settlers  ...  45 

III.  —  The  Pequot  War.  —  The  Code  of  1650,  etc 49 

IV. — The  Charter  of  1662.  —  Union  of  the  Colonies,  etc.  .  59 

CHAPTER  IV.  — The  Colonial  Period. 

Section     I.  —  The    Andros    Government.  —  The    Charter    and    the 

Charter  Oak.     By  Sherman  W.  Adams 63 

Illustrations:  The  Andros  Seal,  G4;  Governor  Andros,  66;  Site  of  the 
Charter  Oak,  69;  The  Charter  Oak,  71. 

Section  II.  —  General  History   of   the  County.      By  Miss  Mary  K. 

Talcott 73 


X  CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Page 
The  War  of  the  Rebellion.     By  John  C.  Kinney 89 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Bench  and  the  Bab.     By  Sherman  W.  Adams 105 

Illustrations:  The  County  Court-House,  111;   The  Hon.  Richard  D. 
Hubhard,  118. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Medical  Histoby  of  Habtfobd  County. 

-    I.     By  Dr.W.A.M.Wninwright 135 

II.     By  Dr.  E.  B.  Hooker 149 

Illustbation  :  Dr.  Horace  Wells,  14G. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Habtfobd  in  Litebatube.     By  Professor  Henry  A.  Beers 155 

Illustrations:  S.  G.Goodrich,  102;  Mrs.  Emma  Willard,  163;  Henry  H. 
Brownell,  167 ;  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  169 ;  Charles  Dudley  Warner, 
170;  Samuel  L.  Clemens  (Mark  Twain),  171. 

CHAPTER  IX.  —  The  Militia  and  Independent  Companies. 

The  Militia.     By  Sherman  W.  Adams 175 

Illustrations  :  The  State  Arsenal,  177 ;  Colonel  Thomas  H.  Seymour,  186. 

Habtfobd's  Independent  Militaby  Companies.     By  various  Contributors     189 

CHAPTER  X. 

Feeemasonby,  etc.     By  J.  K.  Wheeler,  Stephen  Terry,  and  others   .     .     .     195 

CHAPTER   XI. 

Emigration.     By  the  Rev.  Increase  N.  Tarbox,  D^D .     .     201 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Geowth  of  the  County.     By  Charles  Ilojrtins  Clark 207 

Hartfobd  County  Tobacco.     By  Fred.  S.  Brown 215 

Illustbations  :    Shoestring  Tobacco,  216;  Connecticut  Seed-leaf,  216. 


CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  XI 

Hart  II.—  Jtartford,  £omt  and  <E% 

CHAPTER  I.  — The  Town. 

Page 
Section  I.  —  Settlement  op  the  Town.     By  Sherman  W.  Adams      .     .     221 
Illustration  :  Seal  of  Hertford,  England,  221. 

Section  II. — The  Original  Proprietors.     By  Miss  Mary  K.  Talcott  .     227 
Illustrations  :  Map  of  Hartford  in  1640,  228  ;  The  Chester  Anns,  234; 
The  Haynes  Arms,  243 ;   The  Lord  Arms,  248;    Thomas  Seymour's 
Seal,  258;    The  Talcott  Arms,  263;    The  Whiting  Arms,  269;    The 
Wyllys  Arms,  271. 

Section  III.  —  The  First  and  Second  Churches. 

The  First  Church.     By  the  Rev.  George  L.  Walker,  D.D 277 

The  Second  Church.     By  the  Rev.  E.  P.  Parker,  D.D 288 

Illustrations  :  The  Centre  Church,  285 ;  The  Rev.  Nathan  Strong,  286 ; 
The  Second  Church,  21)1. 

Section  IV.  —  General  History  to  the  Revolution.      By  Miss  Mary 

K.  Talcott 293 

Illustration  :  The  Ledyard  Elm,  296. 

Section  V.  —  Commerce  and  Banking.     By  Rowland  Swift      ....     308 
Illustrations  :  Bartholomew's  "  Commerce,"  308  ;    First  Bills  of  Credit 
of  Connecticut,  324,  325;    Hartford  Bank  Bill,  332;   The  Old  Phoenix 
Bank,  336. 

Section  VI.  —  Domestic  and   Social  Life   in  Colonial  Times.      By 

Charles  Dudley  Warner 349 


CHAPTER  II.  — Town  and  City. 

Section  I. — The  Town  since  1784.     By  Miss  Mary  K.  Talcott     .     .     .     3G1 
Illustrations  :  The  Present  Stone  Bridge,  369 ;  Hartford  in  1841,  370. 

Section  II. — The  City  of  Hartford.     By  James  P.  Andrews     .     .     .     377 
Illustrations  :   The  First  City  Seal,  380 ;   The  Present  City  Seal,  381 ; 
Main  Street,  looking  south,  383. 

Section  III. — The  Churches  of  Hartford. 

The  North  Congregational  Church.  By  the  Rev.  N.  J.  Burton,  D.D.  389 
The  Fourth  Congregational  Church.  By  the  Rev.  Graham  Taylor  391 
Other  Congregational  Churches.     By  the  Rev.  F.  S.  Hatch  .     .     .     394 

The  Baptist  Church.     By  the  Rev.  A.  J.  Sage,  D.D 400 

The  Episcopal  Church.     By  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Nichols 405 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church.     By  Thomas  McManus 410 

Other  Denominations.     By  the  Rev.  F.  S.  Hatch 420 

Illustrations  :  Asylum  Hill  Congregational  Church,  397 ;  South  Baptist 
Church,  403 ;  Church  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  408 ;  St.  Joseph's  Ca- 
thedral, 415. 

Section  IV.  —  Institutions  of  Learning. 

The  American  Asylum.     By  Edward  M.  Gallaudet,  LL.D.     .     .     .     425 
The  Hartford  Theological  Seminary.     By  the  Rev.  William  Thomp- 
son, D.D 431 


Xll  CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page 

Trinity  College.     By  Professor  Samuel  Hart,  D.D 435 

Illustrations  :  Trinity  College  in  1829,  435 ;  Dining-Hall  Mantel- 
piece, 436 ;  Trinity  College  iu  1869,  437 ;  Statue  of  Bishop 
Brownell,  438 ;  View  of  proposed  Buildings  of  Trinity  College,  439 ; 
Bishop  Seabury's  Mitre,  440 ;  Trinity  College,  441 ;  College  Seal,  444. 

Section  V.  —  Parks  and  Public  Works.     By  William  A.  Ayres  .     .     .     447 
Illustrations  :  Capitol  and  Bushnell  Park,  445 ;  The  Memorial  Arch,  448 ; 
View  of  Capitol,  449 ;  State  House  Square,  451 ;  A  Fire  in  the  Mitchell 
Building,  453. 

Section  VI.  —  Architecture  in  Hartford.  By  William  C.  Brocklesby  .  463 
Illustrations:  A  Colouial  Doorway,  464;  Other  Doorways,  464,  465; 
Talcott  Staircase,  466;  Barnabas  Deane  House  (Hollister  Resi- 
dence), 467;  Iron  Balconies,  472;  Residences  of  L.  L.  Felt,  473; 
Gurdon  Trumbull,  474  ;  Mrs.  Samuel  Colt,  475  ;  S.  L.  Clemens,  476  ; 
Mrs.  James  Goodwin,  477 ;  Franklin  Chamberlain,  479 ;  60  Garden 
Street,  479;  A.  H.  Olmsted,  480;  and  J.  G.  Batterson.  481 ;  Group 
of  Goodwin  Cottages,  483;  The  State  Capitol,  484;  Views  about  the 
Capitol,  485,  486;  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Building,  487; 
Government  Building,  489 ;  Cheney  Block,  490  ;  Connecticut  Fire  In- 
surance Building,  491 ;  The  Goodwin  Building,  493;  High  School,  495. 

Section  VII.  —  Insurance. 

Fire  Insurance.     By  Charles  HojMns  Clark 499 

Life  and  Accident  Insurance.     By  Forrest  Morgan 511 

Illustrations:  Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Building,  497;  Early  "Hart- 
ford" policy,  501  ;  iEtiia  Insurance  Building,  503;  Phoenix  Insurance 
Building,  507  ;  Charter  Oak  Life  Insurance  Building,  517  ;  Travelers 
Building,  523. 

Section  VIII. — The  Eetreat  for  the  Insane.    By  Dr.  Henry  P.  Steams     525 
Other  Beneficent  Institutions.     By  William  I.  Fletcher  .     .     .     .     530 
Illustrations:  View  of  the  Retreat,  526;  Hartford  Hospital,  531 ;  The 
Old  People's  Home,  535. 

Section  IX.  —  Libraries.     By  William  I.  Fletcher 541 

Illustrations:  Wadsworth  Atheneum,  542;  David  Watkinson,  547; 
Daniel  Wadsworth,  550. 

Section  X.  —  Travel  and  Transportation.     By  William  A.  Ayres    .     .     551 
Illustrations:    Stage-coach  handbill,  555;    "Victory"  handbill,  556; 
"Ellsworth"  handbill,  557. 

Section  XL  —  Manufactures  and  Inventions.     By  William  A.  Ayres  .     563 

Illustration  :  Colt's  Armory,  567. 
Section  XII.  —  Social  Life  after  the  Revolution.     By  Henry  Baldwin     574 

Illustrations  :  Theatre  handbill,  584  ;  Card  to  Election -ball,  593;  State 
House  Square  (1825),  599;  Dr.  Mason  F.  Cogswell,  600. 

Section  XIII. — The  Press.     By  Charles  Hopkins  Clark 605 

Illustrations  :  "  Courant "  Building,  607  ;  Hon.  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  610  ; 
Hon.  A.  E.  Burr,  618 ;  The  Case,  Lockwood,  &  Brainard  Company's 
Printing  House,  625. 

Section  XIV.  —  Schools  and  Education.        By  the  Hon.    Henry  Bar- 
nard, LL.D 628 

Section     XV. — Prominent  Business  Men.     By  Miss  Mary  K.  Talcott      653 
Illustrations:  Thomas  Y.  Seymour,  654;    Jeremiah  Wadsworth  and 
Son,  656. 

Index  to  Vols.  I.  and  II 673 


LIST   OF   STEEL   PORTRAITS. 

VOLUME  I. 


THE  HON.  J.   HAMMOND  TRUMBULL,  LL.  D Frontispiece 

THE  HON.   HENRY  BARNARD,  LL.  D To  face  page    628 

JAMES  G.  BATTERSON 520 

ELIPHALET  A.   BULKELEY 514 

HORACE  BUSHNELL,  D.D 390 

AMOS  M.   COLLINS 660 

ERASTUS  COLLINS 666 

CHARLES  CHAPMAN 116 

COLONEL   SAMUEL   COLT 562 

THOMAS  DAY 126 

CALVIN  DAY 670 

THE  HON.  WILLIAM  E.  DODGE 658 

AUSTIN  DUNHAM 572 

WILLIAM  ELY 664 

THOMAS  H.   GALLAUDET,  D.D 426 

DR.  R.   J.   GATLING      .' 186 

JAMES  GOODWIN 512 

WILLIAM  HUNGEREORD 130 

EDMUND  G.  HOWE 342 

THE  HON.  MARSHALL  JEWELL 570 

JUNIUS  S.  MORGAN 668 

BISHOP  McMAHON 410 

THE  HON.  JOHN  M.  NILES 616 


XIV  LIST   OF   STEEL   PORTRAITS. 

HENRY  A.  PERKINS To  face  page  332 

DR.   GUY  R.  PHELPS 510 

ANSON   G.   PHELPS 656 

GEORGE  ROBERTS 564 

ELIPHALET  TERRY 500 

RODERICK  TERRY 662 

LOREN  P.  WALDO 132 

NOAH  WEBSTER,  LL.  D 172 

THE  HON.  GIDEON  WELLES 618 

CHIEE  JUSTICE  THOMAS  S.  WILLIAMS 114 


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MAP  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY,  1886. 


y 


MEMORIAL    HISTORY 


OF    THE 


COUNTY    OF    HARTFORD,    CONN 


$art  I.  —  €I)e  <&ounty. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GENERAL  DESCRIPTION   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

BY    CHAKLES    L.    BUEDETT,    C.E. 
Extent  and  Boundary.  —  Natural  Features.  —  Geology,  Mineralogy,  etc. 

THE  larger  part  of  the  territory  included  within  the  limits  of 
Hartford  County  lies  in  about  the  centre,  north  and  south,  of  a 
valley  or  depression  the  origin  of  which  is  placed  Iry  geologists  in 
the  Paleozoic,  or  Ancient  era.  The  geological  features  of  this  valley  have 
been  for  years  the  subject  of  investigation  and  study,  and  the  writings 
of  Dana,  Hitchcock,  Pcrcival,  and  others  have  contributed  to  a  large 
fund  of  information.  The  valley  was  formed  by  the  bending  of  the 
crust  of  the  earth  which,  according  to  Professor  Dana,  "  took  place  as  a 
sequel  to  or  in  connection  with  the  crystallization  of  the  rocks  of  which 
the  bottom  of  the  valley  is  made."  This  bend  was  made  in  the  Archaean 
rock  before  the  deposit  of  the  covering  layer  of  sandstone.  It  was  dur- 
ing the  succeeding  era,  the  Reptilian,  that  this  layer  of  sandstone  was 
formed  by  deposits  laid  down  while  the  valley  was  occupied  by  an  estu- 
ary of  an  average  width  of  twenty  miles  extending  from  what  is  now 
the  southern  part  of  Vermont  to  New  Haven,  about  a  hundred  and  ten 
miles. 

In  the  several  periods  following  the  Paleozoic  era,  the  whole  valley 
\vas  subject  to  various  changes  in  elevation  and  conditions  as  to  climate. 
The  depression  became  rilled  with  water  as  an  estuary,  so  protected  that 
the  ocean  forces,  except  the  tidal,  exerted  but  little  influence  within  it, 
mid  so  remote  as  a  whole  that  no  sea  life  entered  it ;  at  least,  no  organic 
remains  have  been  found  to  warrant  the  conclusion  that  it  did.  Large 
beds  of  sandstone  were  deposited  over  the  whole  bottom  of  this  arm  of 
the  sea,  the  bed  in  Hartford  County  having  an  estimated  thickness  of 
not  less  than  three  thousand  feet.  Through  breaks  and  fissures  in  this 
bed  masses  of  melted  trap-rock  at  some  time  during  the  Reptilian  era 

VOL.    I.  —  1. 


2  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

burst  out,  and  now  appear  in  ridges  that  are  marked  and  prominent 
features  of  the  present  surface.  Traces  of  the  igneous  origin  of  this 
trap  formation  are  distinctly  seen  in  the  color  and  condition  of  the 
sandstone  adjacent  to  the  trap-rock  at  these  ridges.  At  this  time  the 
whole  region  was  lifted  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  there  is  no  rec- 
ord of  any  subsidence  of  any  part  of  it  until  after  the  glacial  period. 

It  was  during  the  formation  of  the  stratified  beds  of  red  sandstone, 
prior  to  this  lifting  of  the  surface,  that  the  story  of  the  climate  and  of 


TRAP-ROCK    DYKE    AT    "  ROCKY    HILL    STONE-PITS,"    HARTFORD, 
LOOKING  TOWARDS   TRINITY   COLLEGE. 

the  vegetable  and  animal  life  of  that  remote  past  was  written  on  leaves 
of  stone  that  have  yielded  from  their  study  by  scientists  a  history  of  the 
utmost  interest,  and  one  that  has  made  the  red  sandstone  of  the  Con- 
necticut valley  world-famous.  The  gradual  hardening  into  a  mass  of 
stone  of  the  sand  and  gravel  washed  into  the  estuary  from  the  neigh- 
boring hills  of  gneissic  and  schistose  rock  preserved  in  the  beds  the 
remains  of  giant  ferns  and  conifers  that  show  the  tropical  character  of 
the  climate,  and  held  safely  locked  within  them  the  records  of  animal 
life.  The  fossil  specimens  and  footprints  are  most  numerous  outside 
the  limits  of  Hartford  County,  and  particularly  at  the  north,  in  what  was 
the  head  of  the  estuary  ;  but  in  the  sandstone  beds  of  Wethersfield  cove 
there  have  been  found  the  tracks  of  a  multitude  of  birds  and  reptiles, 
bipedal  and  quadrupedal.  These  tracks  were  made  in  the  soft  mud 
along  the  shore  of  the  estuary  or  in  the  plastic  sand  or  clay  of  flats  that 
were  exposed  when  the  tide  was  out.  The  returning  tide  filled  these 
footprints,  that  had  been  hardened  by  exposure  to  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
with  fine  sand  or  clay,  and  made  them  permanent  beneath  the  layer  of 
detritus  next  deposited.     Successive  layers  of  sand  and  clay  were  thus 


GENERAL   DESCRIPTION.  3 

formed,  imprinted,  and  covered  oyer  until  the  layers  aggregated  thou- 
sands of  feet  in  thickness,  and  by  pressure  and  chemical  changes  were 
hardened  into  stone.  Naturalists,  from  a- study  of  these  remains,  have 
built  up  species,  many  of  them  now  extinct,  of  swimming,  crawling,  and 
flying  reptiles,  reptilian  birds,  and  huge  mammals. 

Then  came  an  uplifting  of  these  sandstone  beds  that  raised  them 
high  above  the  level  of  the  sea  and  tipped  and  tilted  them  so  that  they 
slope  from  10°  to  50°  with  the  dip  to  the  east  and  south  of  east.  The 
finest  footprints  —  that  is,  those  of  most  even  depth  and  fulness  of  out- 
line—  are  found  in  beds  now  sloped  at  angles  of  from  10°  to  40°  out  of 
level;  and  as  such  prints  could  not  possibly  have  been  made  in  inclined 
beds,  it  shows  that  they  were  first  level  and  then  were  tilted.  The  erup- 
tion of  the  riielted  trap-rock  probably  accompanied  this  change  in  the 
overlying  sandstone.  While  parts  of  the  bed  of  sandstone  were  hard, 
and,  like  the  trap-rock,  offered  great  resistance  to  erosion,  or  wearing 
away  by  weather,  and  the  action  of  flowing  water,  other  parts  were  more 
easily  moved  by  fluvial  currents  and  other  denuding  forces.  These 
trap  eruptions  and  disturbances  were  a  large  factor  in  determining  the 
courses  of  rivers  in  this  valley ;  for  when  the  land  that  was  submerged 
in  the  basin  was  lifted  at  some  time  near  the  date  of  the  eruption,  the 
Connecticut  River  was  narrowed,  and,  turning  aside  from  the  trap-dikes 
of  Wethersfield,  Berlin,  and  Meriden,  cut  through  the  hills  at  the  Nar- 
rows in  a  course  towards  the  southeast, — an  abrupt  bend  from  its  course 
above.  The  Farmington  River,  which  flowed  from  the  north  and  west  as 
a  tributary  to  the  estuary,  was  deflected  sharply  north  along  the  western 
foot  of  the  Talcott  Mountain  range,  running  for  sixteen  miles  before  it 
cut  through  the  range  into  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  River,  which 
it  joins.  After  the  uplifting  there  followed  a  period  when,  according  to 
Dana,  from  glacial  action  the  present  valley  was  dug  out  by  erosion  and 
the  physical  features  in  all  essential  points  were  outlined  and  marked ; 
"  and  this  was  when  the  land  stood  at  a  higher  level  than  now."  Fol- 
lowing the  Glacial  epoch,  which  was  one  of  intense  cold,  and  when  large 
masses  of  ice  spread  over  the  region,  was  a  warmer  period,  the  Cham- 
plain,  in  which  the  land  was  sunk  below  its  present  level  and  was  sub- 
merged beneath  the  sea  along  the  coast.  The  great  glacier  was  melted, 
and  the  rivers  and  lakes  extended  in  area  ;  the  valley  of  the  Connecti- 
cut being  occupied  by  a  succession  of  basins  or  expansions  of  the  stream, 
joined  by  narrower  water-ways  in  gorges  cut  through  the  separating 
ridges.  The  lakes  have  disappeared,  and  the  stream  is  now  confined 
for  the  greater  part  of  its  extent  in  this  county  to  a  tortuous  bed  bor- 
dered by  alluvial  meadows  ;  but  evidence  of  their  having  existed  is  left 
in  the  terraces  and  in  the  well-defined  ancient  basins.  The  largest  and 
widest  basin  extends  from  Middletown  to  Mount  Holyoke,  a  distance  of 
fifty-three  miles.  Many  years  ago  several  teeth  of  the  mastodon  were 
found  in  Cheshire,  and  a  vertebra  was  dug  up  in  the  town  of  Berlin 
amongst  a  heap  of  bleached  fresh-water  shells  in  a  bed  of  a  "  tufaceous 
lacustrine  formation,"  showing  the  existence  of  this  animal  in  the 
Champlain  era. 

In  the  Glacial  period  a  vast  sheet  of  ice  spread  over  the  continent, 
and  of  this  the  Connecticut  valley  glacier  formed  a  part,  so  distinct, 
however,  as  to  have  a  motion  of  its  own.  With  a  frontal  width  of  from 
one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  and  a  thickness  to  the 


4  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

north  of  more  than  four  thousand  feet,  it  moved  down  the  sloping  valley 
with  resistless  force,  guided  by  the  trap  hills  in  direction  southerly  or  a 
little  west  of  south.  The  sheet  of  ice  lay  with  enormous  pressure  upon 
the  plains  and  low  hills  beneath  it,  and  was  plastic  to  a  degree  that 
enabled  it  to  conform  to  the  surface  that  was  cut  and  shaped  by  it. 
The  softer  sandstone  was  easily  ground  up,  and  ploughed  out  to  a 
depth  of  hundreds  of  feet,  while  the  hard  granite  rocks  were  scratched 
and  furrowed  to  the  depth  of  from  six  inches  to  a  foot,  and  suffered  an 
unknown  amount  of  surface  planing.  The  ridges  of  the  Talcott  Moun- 
tain and  others  in  the  western  and  southern  part  of  the  county  show 
traces  of  its  action;  while  blocks  from  the  dikes  of  the  western  Primary 
rocks  are  found  scattered  over  the  sandstone  in  a  line  from  West  Hart- 
ford through  Berlin  and  Meriden.  The  melting  of  the  ice  left  large 
deposits  of  fragments  of  rock,  gravel,  and  cobble-stone,  and  the  streams 
that  were  in  action  during  the  progress  and  decline  of  the  glacier  helped 
it  in  the  rough  shaping  of  plains,  valleys,  and  mountains,  and  worked 
over  the  diluvium.  Peculiar  accumulations  of  small  rolled  fragments 
(gravel  and  cobble-stones)  that  have  been  found  in  basins  or  val- 
leys, apparently  deposited  by  currents  of  local  operation,  are  heaped  in 
rounded  hillocks  in  Ncwington  and  Berlin  in  a  cove  surrounded  by  one 
of  the  trap  ranges.  A  subsidence  of  the  land  marked  the  close  of  the 
Glacial  era  and  the  beginning  of  the  next,  resulting  in  a  warmer  climate, 
the  melting  of  the  glacier,  and  the  work  of  the  Diluvial  period  above 
described.  A  following  elevation  of  the  land  that  may  have  taken  place 
in  successive  steps  made  it  habitable  by  man  and  marks  the  transition 
to  the  Recent  era.  The  amount  of  the  sinking  of  the  land  and  subse- 
quent rising  may  be  estimated  by  noting  that  Professor  Hitchcock  found 
beaches  in  New  England  at  heights  varying  from  eight  hundred  to  two 
thousand  six  hundred  feet  above  the  present  sea-level. 

The  changes  in  the  elevation  of  the  land  were  accompanied  by 
changes  both  in  location  and  width  of  the  Connecticut  River.  The 
traces  of  fluvial  action  caused  Hitchcock  to  locate  an  ancient  river-bed 
on  the  west  side  of  the  present  river  in  Wethersfield,  west  of  the  village, 
and  also  in  a  line  through  the  west  part  of  Hartford,  uniting  with  the 
river  a  little  above  the  city.  The  river  terraces  are  distinctly  marked 
along  the  river  border,  and  are  usually  two  in  number, — the  lower  hav- 
ing an  average  height  of  sixteen  feet  above  low  water,  and  the  higher  a 
height  of  thirty-six  feet,  while  the  height  of  the  river  border  formations 
above  modern  flood-levels  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  at  Middletown 
and  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  at  Springfield. 

The  low-water  height  of  the  Connecticut  River  at  Hartford  is  the 
same  as  the  mean  level  of  the  Sound  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  at  Say- 
brook,  some  forty-nine  miles  south,  the  tide  at  the  former  place  being 
about  one  foot  and  at  the  latter  four  feet.  The  tide  in  the  river  is 
noticeable  above  Hartford  at  the  foot  of  Enfield  Falls  in  Windsor. 
The  highest  modern  flood  was  that  of  May,  1854,  when  the  river  readied 
a  height  of  twenty-nine  feet  ten  inches  above  low  water.  The  mean 
discharge  of  the  river  at  low  water  is  five  thousand  cubic  feet  per 
second,  and  it  drains,  with  its  tributaries,  the  Farmington,  Podunk, 
Hockanum,  and  Little  rivers,  —  the  larger  part  of  the  county,  in  which 
the  annual  rain-fall  is  not  far  from  forty-four  inches,  that  being  the 
average  of  a  series  of  observations  at  Hartford  for  a  term  of  ten  years. 


GENERAL   DESCRIPTION.  5 

The  changes  in  the  river-bed  resulting  from  the  cutting  away  of  the 
bank  on  the  upper  side  of  a  bend  and  the  filling  on  the  lower  side  have 
moved  the  river  its  whole  width  to  the  eastward  in  about  twelve  years 
in  a  section  six  miles  south  of  Hartford ;  while  at  Wethersfield  the 
river-bed  since  1690  has  made  a  remarkable  change;  so  gradually,  how- 
ever, as  to  have  attracted  but  little  attention  from  year  to  year.  The 
course  of  the  river  below  Hartford  and  within  the  limits  of  the  county 
is  extremely  crooked ;  and  at  the  elate  stated  the  river,  after  flowing 
southeast  to  Wethersfield,  turned  sharply  to  the  northeast  and  then  to 
the  southeast,  again  dividing  at  Naubuc  on  both  sides  of  Wright's 
Island  that  was  over  a  mile  in  length.  By  the  shifting  of  the  clay  and 
sand  forming  its  banks  from  one  part  of  a  bend  to  another  the  river 
now  flows  diagonally  across  its  old  bed,  leaving  a  cove  on  each  side  that 
lies  nearly  parallel  to  its  present  course ;  and  the  island  has  completely 
disappeared,  leaving  the  stream,  however,  at  its  average  width  of  about 
four  hundred  yards. 

Minerals.  —  The  ores  and  mineral  substances  in  the  county  of 
industrial  importance  and  at  present  mined  are  mainly  feldspar  at 
Glastonbury,  sandstone  at  Farniington,  and  trap-rock  at  Hartford. 
The  feldspar  is  obtained  from  a  granite  vein  in  South  Glastonbury,  and 
in  the  form  known  as  orthoclase.  It  is  of  value  because  of  its  use  in 
the  manufacture  of  the  best  porcelain  ware,  and  the  value  of  the  annual 
output  is  not  far  from  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  quarries  at  Glas- 
tonbury and  Middletown  furnish  the  largest  part  of  the  total  supply 
used  in  the  United  States. 

The  minerals,  ores,  etc.,  that  are  of  value,  but  are  not  at  present 
mined,  are  copper  ores  (bornite  and  chalcocite)  at  Granby,  Bristol,  and 
Simsbury  ;  hydraulic  limestone,  near  Berlin,  in  Simsbury ;  and  mala- 
chite in  Bristol. 

Soil  and  Products.  —  The  soil  of  the  larger  part  of  the  county  is 
formed  by  the  decomposition  of  the  rock  of  the  secondary  formation,  or 
of  the  river  alluvia,  the  latter  having  the  first  place  in  point  of  value. 
The  statistics  from  which  a  knowledge  of  the  comparative  value  of  the 
land  in  the  county  may  be  gained  are  very  meagre;  but  the  comparative 
value  put  upon  the  land  in  the  several  counties  in  colonial  times  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  Statutes  of  1750  directed  the  listers  to  assess 
all  the  meadow  lands  in  the  County  of  Hartford,  both  ploughing  and 
mowing,  at  fifteen  shillings  per  acre,  and  all  meadow  land  within  the 
other  counties  seven  shillings  and  sixpence  per  acre. 

In  1061,  and  for  many  years  following,  wheat,  pease,  and  flax  were 
staple  products  of  the  county  ;  and  in  1762  beef,  pork,  and  flour  were 
prominent  factors  in  contributing  to  its  wealth.  In  1845  Hartford 
County  stood  first  in  the  value  of  the  products,  tobacco  (of  which  it 
furnished  ninety  per  cent),  Indian  corn,  rye,  fruits,  and  swine,  and  sec- 
ond in  the  value  of  hay,  buckwheat,  and  horses. 

In  the  value  of  its  tobacco  crop  the  county  still  leads  the  State ;  and 
Wethersficld  holds  its  old-time  reputation  for  onions,  and  has  gained  in 
its  specialty  of  garden  seeds. 

Fish  and  Game.  —  The  streams  and  rivers  at  one  time  abounded 
in  salmon  and  trout.  A  few  of  the  former  are  still  seen  in  the  Con- 
necticut. They  were  quite  abundant  about  1878  as  a  result  of  artificial 
propagation;  but  they  brought  so  high  a  price  in  the  market  (a  dollar 


6  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF    HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

to  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  pound)  that  the  temptation  was  irresistible  to 
sell  all  that  were  caught  in  the  shad-nets  ;  and  so  the  supply  was  prac- 
tically exhausted,  and  the  effort  to  replenish  the  river  with  its  most 
valuable  fish  was  a  failure.  But  it  should  be  added  that  dams  in  the 
Connecticut  at  Holyoke,  Mass.,  and  in  the  Farmington  River  prevent 
many  of  the  fish  from  reaching  their  breeding  places,  and  so  are  an  im- 
portant cause  of  the  failure  of  any  attempts  to  restore  the  salmon. 
Small  salmon  are  caught  occasionally  with  trout  in  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Farmington,  and  probably  there  will  always  be  a  few  of  these  fish 
in  the  river.  Trout  have  grown  more  abundant  since  the  State  under- 
took to  supply  five  thousand  of  the  young  to  each  applicant  who  wished 
to  stock  streams  in  the  State  with  them.  There  has  been  considerable 
legislation  to  preserve  them.  The  season  is  from  April  1  to  July  1. 
Owners  can  forbid  fishing  by  putting  up  prohibitory  notices  ;  and  there 
is  a  heavy  penalty  not  only  for  fishing,  but  for  trespassing  upon  land 
with  intent  to  fish,  in  such  waters.  The  most  famous  Connecticut 
River  fish  is  the  shad,  which  is  believed  by  many  to  be  superior  to  the 
shad  of  any  other  river.  The  State  by  planting  the  young  in  the  Far- 
mington and  Connecticut  rivers  has  maintained  the  supply  fairly  well. 
The  forerunners  of  the  shad  are  the  alewives,  which,  without  artificial 
propagation,  swarm  up  the  river  and  the  small  streams  in  great  quantities 
each  spring. 

Sturgeon  are  frequently  seen  in  the  Connecticut,  and  the  striped 
bass,  which  are  quite  numerous,  sometimes  reach  immense  size.  Black 
bass  are  also  found  in  the  Connecticut,  having  run  there  from  ponds 
where  they  were  planted.  These  fish  were  introduced  into  the  ponded 
waters  of  the  State  about  1860,  and  have  become  very  numerous.  As 
they  have  increased  pickerel  have  become  scarce.  The  Fish  Commis- 
sion has  introduced  land-locked  salmon  in  numerous  ponds,  but  they 
have  never  become  plentiful.  As  a  peculiarity  among  fish  in  the  county, 
it  may  be  mentioned  that  when  the  Shuttle  Meadow  Reservoir  in  New 
Britain  was  thrown  open  to  fishermen,  yellow  perch  of  as  much  as 
two  or  three  pounds'  weight  each  were  caught  in  large  numbers.  In 
most  of  the  waters  of  the  county  they  do  not  exceed  one  half  or  three 
quarters  of  a  pound. 

No  large  game  remains  in  the  county.  At  times  wildcats  are  re- 
ported in  the  thinly-inhabited  regions.  Foxes  and  raccoons  are  abun- 
dant ;  and  partridges,  quails,  and  woodcock  are  not  yet  so  scarce  that 
the  skilful  hunter  cannot  find  them. 

Flora.  —  The  flora  of  the  county  differs  little,  if  at  all,  from  that  of 
the  state  at  large,  and  the  labors  of  the  late  Charles  Wright  of  Wethers- 
field,  Nathan  Coleman  of  Berlin,  and  James  N.  Bishop  of  Plainville, 
have  left  little  to  be  discovered  in  this  particular  field.  The  last-named 
botanist's  catalogue  of  phamogamous  plants  growing  without  cultivation 
in  Connecticut  (published  in  1885)  includes  the  following  species  . — 


RANUNCULACE.E. 
Clematis  —  Virgin's  Bower. 
C.  verticillaris,  Avon. 

Ranunculus  —  Buttercup. 
R.  multifidus,  Plainville. 
R.  sceleratus,  Berlin. 

Cimicifuga  —  Bugbane. 
C.  racemosa,  Bristol. 


BERBERIDACE.E. 
Podophyllum  —  Mandrake. 
P.  peltatum,  Southington. 

NYMPH^EACE^E. 
Nuphar —  Yellow  Pond-lily. 
N.  luteum.  var.  pumilum,  Farmington. 
FUMARIACE/E. 
Dicentra  —  Dutchman's  Breeches. 
D.  Canadensis,  Plainville. 


GENERAL   DESCRIPTION. 


CRUCIFERyE. 
Brassica. 

B.  Sinapistrum,  Plainville. 

VIOLACE.E. 
Viola — Violet. 
V.pedata,  Farmington,  Glastonbury,  etc. 
HYPERICACE.E. 
Hypericum—  St.  John's-wort. 
E.  pyramidatum,  Berlin,  Farmington. 
GERANIACE.E. 
Geranium  —  Cranesbill. 
G.  pusillum,  Windsor. 

ROSACEA. 
Poterium  —  Burnet. 
P.  Canadense,  Berlin. 

Geum  —  Avens. 
G.  strictum,  Berlin,  Plainville. 
Dalibarda. 
D.  repens,  Farmington. 

LYTHRACE^. 
Lythrum  —  Loosestrife. 
L.  Salicaria,  Bristol. 

Ludwigia  —  False  Loosestrife. 
L.polycarpa,  Hartford. 

Nes.ea —  Swamp  Loosestrife. 
iV.  vertici/lata,  var.  flore plena,  Plainville, 
only  known  American  habitat. 
CACTACE^. 
OrrxxiA—  Prickly  Pear. 
0.  Bafinesquii,  Unionville. 

UMBELLIFERJ2. 
Thaspium  —  Meadow  Parsnip. 
T.  Irifoliatum,  Farmington. 

CAPRIFOLIACE.E. 

Viburnum  —  Laurestinus. 

V.  nudum,  Berlin,  Farmington,  Plainville. 

COMPOSITE. 

Aster  —  Aster. 

A.  concolor,  Berlin. 

Erigeron  —  Fleabane. 
E.  strigosum,  Berlin. 

Helianthus —  Sunflower. 
H.  doronkoides,  Plainville. 

Cirsium  —  Thistle. 
C.  horridulum,  Berlin. 

VACCINIACE.E. 
Gaylussacia  —  Huckleberry. 
G.  dumosa,  Berlin. 

Vaccinium  —  Cranberry,  Blueberry. 
V.  slamineum,  Berlin,  North  Granby. 
GENTIANE^E. 
Gentiana  —  Gentian. 
G.  quinquejlora,  Berlin,  Bristol. 
BORRAGINEiE. 
Echium  —Viper's  Bugloss. 
E.  arvensis,  Windsor. 

SOLANACE^E. 
Physalis  —  Ground  Cherry. 
P.  Pennsylvanica,  Berlin. 

SCROPHULARIACE^E. 
Linaria  —  Toad-flax. 
L.  Elatine.  Wethersfield. 

Antirrhinum—  Snapdragon. 
A.  Canadensis,  Plainville. 


LENTIBULACE.E. 
Utricularia  —  Bladderwort. 
U.  striata,  Poquonnock. 

LABIATE. 
Mentha  —  Mint. 
M.  sativa,  Plainville. 

Monarda  —  Horse-mint. 
M.fistulosa,  Berlin. 

Lophanthus  —  Giant  Hyssop. 
L.  nepetoides,  Berlin,  Bristol. 

Stachys  —  Hedge-nettle. 
S.palustris,  Berlin. 
S.palustris,  var.  asper,  Wethersfield. 
S .  jwlustris,  var.  cordata,  Farmington. 

PLANTAGINE.E. 
Plantago  —  Plantain. 
P.  Virginica,  Berlin. 

POLYGONACE.E. 
Polygonum  —  Knotweed. 
P.  incarnatum,  Berlin. 
P.  ramosissimum,  Berlin. 
P.  arifolium,  Berlin,  Bloomfield,  Plainville. 
EUPHORBIACE.E. 
Euphorbia  —  Spurge. 
E.  Ipecacuanha},  East  Windsor,  Enfield. 
ORCHIDACE.E. 
Orchis. 
0.  spectabilis,  Farmington,  Granby. 

Habenaria  —  Rein-orchis. 
//.  Orbiculata,  Granby,  Windsor. 
H.  ciliaris,  Berlin,  Bristol. 

Goodyera  —  Rattlesnake-plantain. 
G.  repens,  Granby,  Hartford,  Hartland. 
Spiranthes — Ladies'  Tresses. 
S.  latifolia,  East  Hartford,  South  Windsor. 

Arethusa. 
A.  bulbosa,  Granby. 

Pogonia. 
P.  pendula,  Suffield. 
P.  verticillata,  South  Windsor. 

Microstylis  —  Adder' s-mouth. 
M.  ophioglossoides,  Berlin. 

Liparis  —  Twayblade. 
L.  Lceselii,  Bristol,  Suffield. 

Aplectrum  —  Putty-root. 
A.  hyemale,  Hartford,  Suffield. 

Cypripedium  —Lady's  Slipper. 
C.  arietinum,  New  Britain. 
C.  spectabile,  Bristol,  Southington. 

JUNCACE.E. 
Juncus —  Bog-rush. 
J.  bufonius,  Berlin. 
J.  sclrpoides,  Berlin. 

TYPHACE^. 
Sparganium  —Bur-reed. 
S.  simplex,  var.  androcladum,  Berlin. 
S.  simplex,  var.  angusti/olium,  Berlin. 
ARACE^E. 
Call  a  —  Water-arum. 
C.palustris,  Berlin,  New  Britain. 

Orontium  —  Golden-club. 
0  aquaticum,  Berlin. 

NAIDACE.E. 
Potamogeton  —  Pond-weed. 
P.  hybridus,  Berlin,  Hartford. 
P.  lonchites,  Bristol,  Hartford,  Plainville. 
P.  lucens,  var.  minor,  Plainville. 
P.  pectinatus,  Hartford. 


8 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


CYPER  ACE.E.  Cakex  —  Sedge. 

Cyperus  —  Galingale.  C.  Buxbaumii,  Plainville. 

C.  erythrorhizcs,  Hartford.  C.  monile,  Plainville. 

Eleochaeis  —  Spike-rush.  GRAMINE^. 

E.  Enqelmanii,  Hartford.  n,„„„   T.       ■»»■ 

E.  diandra,  Hartford.  „         _    Giaceria -Manna-grass. 

Scirpus  -  Bulrush.  G'  ^uhjiora,  Hartford. 
S.  sylvaticus,  Berlin. 

Among  native  grasses  are  the  red-top,  June,  and  blue.  Of  plants 
not  native  to  the  soil  it  is  worth  noting  that  a  Christmas  rose  or  black 
hellebore,  domesticated  many  years  ago  at  Poquonnock,  blooms  annually 
in  December. 

Among  ferns  may  be  mentioned  the  walking-leaf  (Camptosorus 
rhizophyllus),  West  Hartford,  etc.,  and  the  creeping-fern  (Lygodium 
palmatum),  named  Windsor  fern  years  ago,  from  a  popular  impres- 
sion that  it  was  confined  to  East  Windsor ;  whereas  it  occurs  in  East 
Hartford  and  Berlin,  and  probably  is  not  rare  on  the  mountains  west 
of  the  river. 

The  following  partial  list  of  trees,  made  by  Mr.  Charles  Wright 
shortly  before  his  death,  is  sufficiently  full  for  the  purposes  of  this 
work  :  — 

American  aspen ;  white,  mountain,  and  black  ash ;  basswood ;  American 
beech ;  white,  black,  yellow,  and  canoe  (rare)  birch  ;  butternut ;  red  cedar  ; 
wild  cherry ;  chestnut ;  dogwood  (Comus  circinata),  Berlin ;  white,  red,  and 
slippery  elm ;  hemlock  :  shell-bark  hickory ;  pignut ;  black  walnut,  —  a  good 
specimen  in  East  Hartford  ;  hornbeam  or  iron-wood  ;  hop-hornbeam  or  lever- 
wood  ;  hackberry  (Celtis  occidentalis) ,  Berlin  ;  hackmatack  or  tamarack  ;  American 
holly  (Ilex  opaca),  Burlington;  red-flowering,  sugar  maple,  and  white  (Acer  dasy- 
carpum),  East  Windsor,  Wethersfield,  maple;  red  mulberry;  white,  swamp  white, 
scarlet,  chestnut  (Talcott  Mt.),  red,  pin,  and  black  oak ;  pepperidge ;  pitch  and 
white  pine.  Among  plums :  The  wild  yellow  (Primus  Americana),  Berlin ; 
dwarf  cherry  (P.  pumila),  Bristol,  Farmington ;  river  and  wild  poplar ;  white 
spruce  (1) ;  sassafras  ;  sycamore  or  buttonball ;  tulip-tree  or  whitewood.  Wil- 
lows in  large  variety,  including  Salix  tristis,  Berlin ;  S.  humilis,  Farmington, 
Plainville;  S.  livida,  var.  occidentalis,  Farmington;  S.  nigra,  Berlin. 

Among  cultivated  trees  mentioned  by  Mi-.  Wright  are  the  yellow- 
wood,  Kentucky  coffee-tree,  liquid  amber  or  sweet  gum  tree  (specimens 
of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  park  in  Hartford),  catalpa,  magnolia,  Aus- 
trian pine,  European  ash,  honey  locust,  European  linden,  and  purple  or 
copper  beech.  Among  trees  noticeable  for  size,  etc.,  are  an  elm  in 
Broad  Street,  Wethersfield,  twenty-six  feet  in  circumference,  and  the 
Beckley  elm  in  the  same  town  ;  an  elm  in  South  Windsor  scarcely  in- 
ferior in  size,  and  a  very  fine  one  in  Berlin  ;  a  shad-bush  in  Glastonbury 
nine  feet  in  circumference,  with  spread  of  ninety  feet ;  the  basswoods  on 
Wethersfield  Street ;  a  very  large  white  maple  near  the. Church  of  the 
Good  Shepherd,  Hartford ;  a  robust  and  symmetrical  wild  cherry  in 
Cedar  Hill  Cemetery ;  a  sycamore  on  the  river-bank,  Hartford,  between 
State  and  Ferry  streets  ;  a  hackberry  on  Burnside  Avenue,  East  Hart- 
ford, twelve  feet  in  circumference.  A  black  willow  in  Bristol,  planted 
in  1814,  near  a  pond,  had,  when  measured  in  1878,  a  circumference 
near  the  ground  of  twenty  feet  six  inches ;  at  six  feet  from  the  ground 
a  circumference  of  twenty-one  feet ;  and  the  spread  of  the  branches  was 
eighty-one  feet.     A  white  oak  in  the  same  town  was  eleven  feet  three 


GENERAL   DESCRIPTION. 


9 


inches  in  circumference,  and  had  a  spread  of  sixty  feet.  The  Lom- 
bardy  poplar  was  introduced  by  Joel  Barlow,  who  in  1801  brought 
some  of  the  trees  as  a  present  to  Elisha  Babcock,  publisher  of  the 
"  American  Mercury."  There  was  a  row  of  poplars  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Hartford  State  House  early  in  the  century,  and  some  poplars  are 
still  growing  along  the  New  Haven  Turnpike. 

The  present  area  of  the  county  is  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  square 
miles.  When  the  county  was  established  in  May,  166G,  it  included  not 
only  a  great  part  of  what  it  now  has,  but  also  all  of  what  is  now 
Tolland  County,  and  more  or  less  of  what  is  in  Windham,  Middlesex, 
New  London,  and  Litchfield  counties. 

In  1726  Windham  County  was  formed,  and  Windham,  Mansfield, 
Plainfield,  and  Canterbury  were  set  off  to  it  from  Hartford  County. 

In  1751  Litchfield  County  was  formed,  and  Litchfield,  Barkhamsted, 
Canaan,  Colebrook,  Cornwall,  Goshen,  Hartland,  Harwinton,  Kent, 
New  Hartford,  Norfolk,  Torrington,  and  Winchester  were  taken  from 
Hartford. 

In  1785  there  was  still  further  dismemberment.  Middlesex  County 
was  set  up,  and  took  from  Hartford,  Middletown,  Haddam,  Chatham, 
and  East  Haddam ;  and  Tolland  County  was  also  set  up,  and  took 
Tolland,  Bolton,  Ellington,  Stafford,  and  Willington. 

In  1786  Hartford  County  consisted  of  the  towns  of  Hartford,  Wind- 
sor, Wethersfield,  Farmington,  Glastonbury,  Simsbury,  Enfield,  Suf- 
field,  East  Windsor,  East  Hartford,  Berlin,  Bristol,  Southington,  and 
Granby. 

The  following  table  shows  all  the  towns  that  have  been  included  in 
Hartford  County,  and  also  indicates  when  and  to  what  county  those 
were  set  off  which  are  not  now  included  in  its  limits.  The  figures  in 
parentheses  indicate  the  date  of  the  creation  of  the  town :  — 


Hartford. 
Windsor. 
Wethersfield. 


1666.  —  Establishment  of  Hartford  County. 


Farmington  (1645). 
Middletown  (1651),  set  off  to  Middlesex 
County  1785. 


Haddam  (1668) 

1785. 
Simsbury  (1670). 
Waterbury  (1686),  set  off  to  New  Haven 

County  1728. 


Toivns  organized  between  1666  and  1700. 
t  off  to  Middlesex 


Glastonbury  (1693). 
Windham  (1694),  set  off  to  Windham 
County  1726. 


Toivns  organized  between  1700  and  1725. 


Colchester  (named  1699,  and  set  off  to 
New  London  County),  transferred  to 
Hartford  County  1708,  and  retrans- 
ferred  to  New  London  County  1783. 

Plainfield  (1700),  set  off  to  Windham 
County  1726. 


Coventry  (1712),  set  off  to  Windham 

County  1726. 
Pomfret    (1713),   set   off    to  Windham 

County  1726. 
Chatham  (1714),  set  off  to  Middlesex 

County  1785. 


10 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


Mansfield  (1702),  set  off  to  Windham 
County  1726. 

Canterbury  (1703),  set  off  to  Windham 
County  1726.  ' 

Hebron  (1708),  set  off  to  Tolland  Coun- 
ty 1785.   " 

Yoluntown  (1708),  set  off  to  Windham 
County  1726. 

Killingly  (1708),  set  off  to  Windham 
County  1726. 


Ashford    (1714),  set    off  to  Windham 

County  1726. 
Stafford     (1719),    set    off    to    Tolland 

County  1785. 
Bolton  (1720),  set  off  to  Tolland  County 

1785. 
Litchfield   (1720),  set  off  to  Litchfield 

County  1751. 


Totvns  organized  between  17.25  and  1750. 


Willington  (1727),  set  off  to  Tolland 
County  1727. 

East  Haddam  (1 734),  set  off  to  Middle- 
sex County  1785. 

Harwinton  (1737),  set  off  to  Litchfield 
County  1751. 

New  Hartford  (1738),  set  off  to  Litch- 
field County  1751. 

Goshen  (1749),  set  off  to  Litchfield 
County  1751. 

Canaan  (1738),  set  off  to  Litchfield 
County  1751. 


Cornwall  (1740),  set  off  to  Litchfield 
County  1751. 

Kent  (1740),  set  off  to  Litchfield  Coun- 
ty 1751. 

Norfolk  (1758),  territory  set  off  to 
Litchfield  County  1751. 

Torrington  (1740),  set  off  to  Litchfield 
County  1751. 

Tolland  (1748),  set  off  to  Tolland 
County  1785. 

Enfield  (1749). 

Suffield  (1749). 


Colebrook   (1761),  territory  set   off  to 

Litchfield  County  1751. 
Hartland    (1761),    territory  set   off    to 

Litchfield  County  1751  ;  transferred 

to  Hartford  County  1796. 
East  Windsor  (1768). 
Winchester  (1771),  territory  set  off  to 

Litchfield  County  1751. 


Totvns  organized  between  1750  and  1800. 

Barkhamsted  (1779),  set  off  to  Litch- 
field County. 
South ington  (1779). 
East  Hartford  (1783). 
Berlin  (1785). 
Bristol  (1785). 
Granby  (1786). 


Towns  organized  between  1800  and  1871. 

Marlborough  (1803).  South  Windsor  (1845). 

Burlington  (1806).  New  Britain  (1850). 

Canton  (1806).     '  West  Hartford  (1854). 

Manchester  (1823).  Windsor  Locks  (1854). 

Avon  (1830).  East  Granby  (1858). 

Bloomfield  (1835).  Plainville  (1869). 

Eocky  Hill  (1843).  Newington  (1871). 


CHAPTER  II. 

EARLY     HISTORY. 


SECTION    I 

THE  INDIANS  OF  THE  CONNECTICUT   VALLEY. 

BY   J.    HAMMOND    TRUMBULL,   LL.D. 

THE  Indians  of  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  Rhode  Island  all 
belonged  to  one  stock,  and  spoke  dialects  of  the  same  language. 
These  dialects  were  not  so  diverse  that  the  natives  "  throughout 
the  whole  country "  known  to  the  English,  in  the  time  of  Roger 
Williams  and  Eliot,  could  not  "  well  understand  and  converse  one 
with  another."  They  lived,  chiefly,  by  hunting,  fowling,  and  fishing ; 
the  forests  abounded  in  game,  and  every  stream  supplied  fish :  but 
they  had  advanced  beyond  the  lowest  grade  of  savage  life  ;  they  had 
learned  to  cultivate  the  soil,  and  to  prepare  it  for  cultivation  by  clear- 
ing it  of  wood  and  underbrush ;  and  they  raised  good  crops  of  Indian 
corn,  and  probably  beans  and  squashes,  for  winter  supplies. 

Of  the  tribes  that  occupied  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  before  the 
coming  of  the  English,  our  knowledge  is  chiefly  derived  from  the  report 
of  discoveries  made  by  the  Dutch  captain,  Adriaen  Block,  in  the  yacht 
"  Onrust "  (Restless)  in  1614.  Following  the  coast,  from  the  east, 
Block  entered  Connecticut  River,  which  he  called  de  Vcrsche  Riviere 
(that  is,  "the  Fresh").  He  found  few  inhabitants  near  the  mouth, 
"  but  at  the  distance  of  forty-five  miles  above  they  became  numerous  ; " 
"  their  nation  was  called  Sequins."  On  his  map,  the  villages,  or  lodges, 
of  the  Sequins  are  marked,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  at  and  above  its 
principal  bend,  near  Middletown.  Some  forty -five  miles  above,  the  explor- 
ers came  to  the  country  of  the  Nawaas,  where  "  the  natives  plant  maize, 
and  in  the  year  1614  they  had  a  village  resembling  a  fort  for  protection 
against  their  enemies.  .  .  .  This  place  is  situated  in  latitude  41°  48'." 
This  fortified  town  was,  in  my  opinion,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river, 
in  what  is  now  South  Windsor,  between  Podunk  and  Scantic  rivers,  on 
the  ground  called  Nowashe  (which  seems  to  be  the  equivalent  of  the 
Dutch  "  Nowaas  ")  by  the  Indians  who  sold  it  to  Windsor  plantation  in 
1636  ;*  and  was  paled,  or  palisadoed,  to  defend  it  against  the  Pequots. 
The  Pequots  were  a  branch  of  the  great  Muhhekanew  (or  Mohican) 
nation  whose  principal  seat  had  been  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Hudson 
River,  nearly  opposite  Fort  Orange  (Albany).  Driven  from  their 
country  by  the  Mohawks,  they  had  invaded  Connecticut,  and,  dispossess- 

1  See  the  record  in  Stiles's  "  History  of  Windsor,"  p.  110.  In  the  general  history  of 
Windsor,  in  vol.  ii.,  p.  497,  the  Rev.  R.  H.  Tuttle  is  inclined  to  locate  this  fortified  town 
"near  what  is  now  called  Wilson  Station,  about  midway  between  Windsor  and  Hartford." 
that  is,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  where  the  Windsor  sachem  lived  after  his  return  in  1633. 


12  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

ing  or  exacting  tribute  from  the  tribes  which  opposed  their  progress, 
settled  themselves  near  the  sea-coast,  on  territory  formerly  occupied 
by  the  Niantics,  on  both  sides  of  Mystic  River.  The  name  by  which  they 
were  known  to  the  English  and  by  neighboring  tribes  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  of  their  own  adoption.  Pequttoog  (as  Roger  Williams  wrote 
it)  means  "  destroyers  "  or  "  ravagers."  Not  content  with  the  conquest 
of  the  sea-shore  tribes,  they  made  war  on  the  Sequins  of  the  Connecti- 
cut valley.  According  to  the  Dutch  account,  the  Sequins  were  beaten 
in  three  encounters,  and  so  became  tributary  to  the  Pequots.  This 
was  some  years  after  the  first  visit  of  the  Dutch  ;  probably  not  earlier 
than  1630.  One  band  of  the  intruding  Mohicans  had,  it  appears, 
settled  west  of  Thames  River  before  the  coming  of  Block  in  1614. 
They  retained  their  national  name,  and,  after  the  settlement  of  the 
English,  were  known  as  the  Mohegan  tribe.  Uncas,  their  sagamore, 
was  nearly  akin  to  the  Pequot  sachems,  but  not  being  of  full  blood  was 
excluded  by  Indian  laws  of  descent  from  the  succession.  "  Growing 
proud  and  treacherous  to  the  Pequot  sachem,  the  Pequot  sachem  was 
very  angry,  and  sent  up  some  soldiers,  and  drove  Uncas  out  of  his 
country.  ...  At  last  he  humbled  himself  to  the  Pequot  sachem,  and 
received  permission  to  live  in  his  own  country  again."  Again  and 
again  he  revolted,  was  again  expelled,  and  again  restored  on  promise 
of  submission.  It  was,  probably,  during  one  of  these  seasons  of  ban- 
ishment from  his  own  country  that  he,  or  some  of  his  company,  became 
connected  with  the  Nawaas  on  the  east  side  of  Connecticut  river. 
"  Pozen  of  Mohegan,"  —  afterwards  wTell  known  to  the  English  as 
Foxen,  the  crafty  "councillor"  of  Uncas,  —  was  one  of  the  grantors 
in  the  deed  of  Nowashe  to  the  Windsor  planters,  in  1636,  and  other 
"  Mohegeneake  "  (or  Mohegans)  joined  in  that  conveyance. 

Between  1614  and  1631  we  have  no  account  of  the  river  tribes.  In 
April,  1631,  "a  sagamore,  upon  the  river  Quonehtacut,"  whose  name 
(as  Governor  Winthrop  wrote  it)  was  Wahginnacut,  came  to  Boston 
to  urge  the  English  to  "  come  to  plant  in  his  country."  The  Governor 
declined  the  invitation,  and  (as  he  wrote)  "  discovered  after,  that  the 
said  sagamore  is  a  very  treacherous  man,  and  at  war  with  the  Pekoath x 
(a  far  greater  sagamore)."  Somewhat  earlier,  "a  company  of  ban- 
ishte  Indians  "  from  Connecticut,  "  that  were  drivene  out  from  thence 
by  the  potencie  of  the  Pequents  which  usurped  upon  them,  and  drive 
them  from  thence,"  visited  Plymouth  Colony,  and  "  often  sollisited 
them  to  goe  thither,  promising  them  much  trade."  Massachusetts 
declined  to  join  with  Plymouth  in  the  enterprise.  Some  time  in  1632, 
"  the  year  before  the  Dutch  began  in  the  River,"  Governor  Winslow, 
of  Plymouth,  and  his  associates  "  had  a  place  given  (and  the  place 
[Plymouth]  afterwards  possessed)  "  in  what  is  now  Windsor ;  and  in 
October,  1633,  Captain  Holmes,  in  a  vessel  sent  by  the  Plymouth 
trading  company,  "  brought  home  and  restored  ye  right  Sachem  of  ye 
place,  called  Natawanute."  2 

Four  months  before  this  sachem's  restoration,  the  Dutch  (June  8, 
1633)    had    bought  —  as    they   alleged  —  from    the    Pequot   sachem, 

1  That  is,  the  Pequot,  sachem.  Here,  as  was  common  at  that  period,  the  name  of  the 
tribe  was  confounded  with  the  name  of  the  sachem. 

2  Bradford's  "  History  of  Plymouth  Colony,"  pp.  311,  313.  "I  brought  in  Attawanyut  & 
there  left  him  where  he  lived  &  died  upon  the  ground,  whom  Tatobam,  the  Tyrant,  had  before 
expelled  by  war."  —  E.  Winslow  s  Letter  to  Winthrop,  1644. 


THE   INDIANS   OF   THE   CONNECTICUT   VALLEY.  13 

"  Wapyquart,  or  Tattoepan,  chief  of  Sickenames  [Mystic]  river,"  the 
"flat  land,"  named  Sickajoock  (otherwise  written,  by 'the  English, 
"  Sicaogg,"  "  Suckiage,"  "  Suckiaug,"  etc.),  —  "a  very  extensive  and 
beautiful  flat,  extending  along  the  River,  and  so  inland  in  a  westerly 
direction,  situate  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Fresh  River," — comprising 
what  was  subsequently  known  as  "  Dutch  Point  "  and  the  South  Meadow 
of  Hartford.1  According  to  the  Dutch  accounts  of  this  purchase,  it  was 
agreed  between  the  contracting  parties,  "  at  the  request  and  to  the 
great  joy  of  the  Sequcen,  Altarbaenhoet,2  and  all  interested  tribes," 
that  "  Sequeen  should  dwell  with  the  Dutch."  It  is  also  stated  (in  a 
Dutch  report  on  the  boundaries,  drawn  about  1649)  3  that  "for  greater 
security  the  Sequeen  and  his  tribe  went  to  dwell  close  by  Fort  Hope." 

In  the  Dutch  records,  the  name  "Sequeen,"  or  "Sequin,"  is  indif- 
ferently applied  to  a  tribe,  and  to  its  chief  sachem.  These  were  the 
Indians  of  Mattabeset  and  Pyquaug,  subsequently  called  "  Wongunks" 
from  their  principal  seat  on  and  near  the  great  bend  ("  wongunk ") 
of  Connecticut  River,  between  Middletown  and  Portland.  Their  terri- 
tory appears  to  have  extended,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  from  the 
north  part  of  Haddam,  northerly  to,  and  probably  to  some  distance 
above,  Matianuck  (or  Mattanag)  in  Windsor.  "  The  Chief  Sequeen " 
—  of  whom  the  Dutch  bought  land  in  1633,  "which  Chief  or  Sakima 
was,  in  his  time,  lord  and  right  owner  of  the  entire  river  and  the  lands 
thereabouts  "  —  was  probably  he  who  was  known  to  the  English  as 
"  Sowheag  "  and  "  Sequin,"  sometimes  designated  as  the  "  Sachem  of 
Mattabeseck,"  sometimes  as  the  "  Sachem  of  Pyquaug."  4  The  strength 
of  the  Sequins  had  been  broken  in  their  war  with  the  Pequots,  and  the 
number  of  the  tribe  was  probably  much  reduced  before  the  coming  of 
the  English  ;  yet  Sowheag  still  remained  a  "  great  Sachem."  He  sold 
"  Pyquaug "  to  the  planters  of  Wethersfield  ;  and,  later,  granted  a 
"  great  part  of  the  township  of  Middletown  "  (Mattabeseck)  to  Gover- 
nor Haynes,  —  a  grant  confirmed  by  the  remainder  of  his  tribe  in  1673. 
The  date  of  his  death  is  not  known.  It  was  before  1650 ;  for  in  a 
report  made  by  Governor  Stuyvesant  to  the  States-General,  in  1649,  he 
is  mentioned  as  "  the  late  Sequeen."  5  In  1664  there  was  mention  of 
"  a  parcel  of  land  at  Wonggum  "  (the  Bend)  which  had  been  reserved 
for  his  posterity.6  His  successor  was  "  Turramuggus  "  (or  "  Catara- 
muggus"),  who  died  before  1705,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
"Peetoosoh,"  who  was  living  at  Won  gum  (now  in  Chatham)7  in  1706. 

The  Sicaog,  or  Suckiaug  Indians,  so  called  from  the  "  black 
earth  "  (sucki-auke)  of  the  Hartford  meadows,  were,  probably  a  sub- 
tribe  of  the  Sequins.  Their  sachem,  at  the  coming  of  the  English  in 
1633,  wras  "  Sunckquasson  "  (otherwise  written  Sequassen,  Sonquas- 
sen,  etc.),  alias  "  Sasawin,"  a  son  of  Sowheag,8  "the  chief  Sequeen" 
of  the  Dutch  ;  but  his  name  does  not  appear  in  the  Dutch  record  of 
the  purchase  of  the  Hartford  meadow,  and  in  1640  he  testified 

1  New  York  Colonial  Manuscripts,  Holland  Documents,  i.  543  ;  ii.  139,  140. 

2  Natawanute.  3  Holland  Documents,  i.  543;  546,  note. 
4  See  Judge  Adams's  "History  of  Wethersfield,"  in  vol.  ii.,  p.  431. 

6  Holland  Documents,  i.  543,  546,  note.  6  Connecticut  Colonial  Records,  i.  434. 

7  For  further  notice  of  the  "  Wongunks,"  see  Judge  Adams's  "  History  of  Wethersfield," 
in  vol.  ii.,  p.  432. 

8  "  Souwonckquawsir,  old  Sequin's  son."  —  Roger  Williams,  1637,  in  4  Mass.  Hist. 
Collections,  vi.  207.  "Sonquassen  the  son  of  the  late  Sequeen,"  named,  1649,  in  Holland 
Documents,  i.  543. 


14  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

"  that  he  never  sold  any  ground  to  the  Dutch,  neither  was  at  any  time  conquered 
by  the  Pequoyts,  nor  paid  any  tribute  to  them.  And  when  he  sometimes  lived 
at  Mattanag  [in  Windsor]  and  hard  by  his  friends  that  lived  here,  that  he  and 
his  men  came  and  fought  with  them." 

From  him,  in  1635  or  1636,  the  proprietors  of  Hartford  bought 
their  lands,  and  his  grant  was  subsequently  extended  westward  "  so 
far  as  his  country  went."  In  1670,  this  grant  was  confirmed  by  "  the 
only  inhabitants  that  were  surviving,"  nine  in  number,  including  Wa- 
warme,  his  sister  and  "  only  heir."  He  appears  to  have  been,  from 
the  first,  friendly  to  the  English.  Just  how  far  north  his  bounds  ex- 
tended is  not  ascertained,  but  his  name  is  joined  with  Natawanute, 
as  "  one  of  the  rightful  owners  "  of  the  land  at  Matianuck,  in  the  sale 
to  the  Plymouth  company,  in  1633.  We  lose  all  trace  of  him,  after 
his  quarrel  with  the  Indians  of  Podunk,  1656-1657.  A  remnant  of  the 
tribe  remained  —  on  their  reservation  in  the  South  meadow  in  Hart- 
ford ;  and  a  roll  of  the  Indians  who  went  to  Springfield  with  "  Captain 
Nessehegan,"  in  October,  1675,  to  fight  for  the  English  in  the  Narra- 
gansett  war,  includes  the  names  of  eight  Indians  of  Hartford.  The 
"  Sicaog  tribe  "  was  already  extinct. 

The  Indians  of  Tunxis  (Farmington)  were  a  branch  of  the  tribe 
of  which  Sequasson  was  chief  sachem,  and  their  lands  were  included 
in  his  second  grant  to  the  proprietors  of  Hartford.  They  had  ample 
reservations  of  land  in  Farmington,  and  "  the  main  body  of  the  tribe 
was  joined  in  1730  by  the  Indians  of  Hartford ;  and  it  received  also,  at 
various  times,  re-enforcements  from  Windsor,  Middletown,  and  other 
parts  of  the  Connecticut  valley."  The  small  band  at  Massaco  (Sims- 
bury)  probably  belonged  to  the  sub-tribe  of  Tunxis  ;  though  in  the  deed 
to  Simsbury  in  1680,  the  Windsor  sagamores,  Nessahegan  (of  Poquan- 
nock)  and  Seaket  (or  Seacut)  join  as  proprietors  and  "  rightful  owners." 

Natawanute  (or  Attawanyut),  the  sachem  who  had  been  driven  out 
by  the  Pequots  and  was  "  brought  home  and  restored  "  by  the  Plymouth 
company,  and  almost  all  his  band  were  swept  away  by  the  small-pox,  in 
the  spring  of  1634.  The  few  survivors  at  Matianuck  never  again  came 
to  be  regarded  as  a  distinct  tribe.  Arramamet  "  of  Matianuck  "  in  1636, 
seems  to  have  been  the  immediate  successor  of  Natawanute,  but  his 
name  first  appears  as  one  of  the  grantors  of  land  east  of  the  river.  He 
claimed  (and  the  Colony  recognized  his  title  to)  the  greater  part  of  the 
Podunk  lands  (in  South  Windsor  and  East  Hartford),  and  these  he 
gave  by  will,  in  1672.  to  his  daughter  Sougonosk,  the  wife  of  Joshua 
(alias  Attawanhood),  son  of  Uncas. 

The  history  of  the  other  bands  that  occupied  old  Windsor  (west  and 
east  of  the  river),  —  particularly  those  of  Poquannock  and  Podunk,  —  is 
too  obscure,  and  their  tribal  relations  were  too  complicated  for  adequate 
discussion  within  the  narrow  limits  to  which  this  section  is  restricted. 
All  that  is  known  of  them  has  been  diligently  gathered  by  De  Forest 
in  his  "  History  of  the  Indians  of  Connecticut,"  and  by  Dr.  H.  R.  Stiles 
in  the  "  History  of  Ancient  Windsor,"  and  to  these  authorities  and  to 
the  historical  sketches  of  the  several  towns,  in  the  second  volume,  our 
readers  must  necessarily  be  referred. 


^pi?f?&^<ft~t^ 


DUTCH   TRADERS   ON   THE   RIVER.  15 


SECTION    II. 

THE  DUTCH   TRADERS  ON  THE  RIVER;   AND   THE 
HOUSE  OF  HOPE. 

BY   THE    REV.    INCREASE    N.    TARBOX,    D.D. 

When  the  United  Netherlands,  after  nearly  half  a  century  of  strug- 
gle and  warfare  against  the  despotism  of  Spain,  had,  in  the  year  1609, 
triumphantly  established  her  liberties,  her  position  and  natural  alliance 
with  the  sea  made  her  one  of  the  most  active  of  the  seafaring  nations. 
She  opened  a  prosperous  trade  with  the  old  nations  of  the  East,  and 
sent  out  her  ships  for  exploration  and  discovery  in  the  new  regions 
of  the  West.  Henry  Hudson,  an  Englishman,  and  a  bold  navigator, 
friend  of  Captain  John  Smith,  having  been  unfortunate  in  one  or  two 
sea-ventures,  went  over  to  Holland  in  1609,  and  after  some  delays  and 
discouragements  was  at  last  put  in  charge  of  a  yacht  called  the  "  Half- 
Moon,"  manned  by  twenty  sailors,  part  English  and  part  Dutch,  when 
he  set  off,  like  the  rest  of  the  adventurers  of  his  day,  to  find  the  north- 
west passage  to  China.  Without  dwelling  at  all  upon  the  details  of  the 
voyage,  it  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  say  that,  after  being  variously 
tossed  about  from  April  4,  1609,. until  the  early  days  of  September  fol- 
lowing, he  found  himself  in  that  network  of  waters  around  the  spot 
where  now  stands  the  great  city  of  New  York.  Gradually  working  his 
way  northward,  on  the  19th  of  September  he  found  himself  near  the  site 
of  what  is  now  Albany.  Ten  or  twelve  years  before,  Cabot  had  sailed 
along  the  New  England  coast,  keeping  himself  to  the  ocean  pathway ; 
but  Hudson  was  the  first  European  who  had  entered  and  traced  this 
noble  river  from  its  mouth  upward ;  and  so  it  was  fit  and  natural  that 
it  should  forever  bear  his  name. 

It  was  in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  that  this 
service  was  performed  ;  but  when  the  "  Half-Moon "  returned,  before 
reaching  Holland  she  came  to  anchor  in  Dartmouth  harbor,  England. 
The  English  were  so  vexed  and  jealous  that  this  important  discovery 
should  have  been  made  by  one  of  their  own  countrymen  in  the  service 
of  the  Dutch,  that  they  detained  the  vessel  several  months  before  they 
would  allow  her  to  return  to  her  own  nation. 

It  was  soon  found  that  Manhattan  Island,  with  its  extended  water 
arrangements  near  at  hand  and  far  inland,  was  a  most  important  natu- 
ral centre  of  trade  then,  when  the  whole  land  was  wild  and  savage,  as 
it  is  now,  since  the  country  has  reached  its  highly  civilized  state. 
The  enterprise  of  the  Dutch  was  at  once  awakened  to  take  advantage  of 
this  discovery,  and  to  extend  their  researches  in  this  direction  still 
farther.  The  Dutch  gave  the  name  of  New  Netherland  to  their  newly 
discovered  territory. 

One  of  the  adventurers  from  Holland  at  that  time  was  Adriaen 
Block,  who  gave  his  name  to  Block  Island.     In  1613,  with  a  small 


16  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

craft  named  the  "  Tiger,"  he  crossed  the  ocean  in  this  department  of 
service.  His  vessel  was  accidentally  burned  in  Manhattan  Bay  as  he 
was  about  to  sail  homeward.  Not  discouraged,  he  set  to  work  and  built 
another,  probably  the  first  of  the  kind  ever  constructed  on  the  Ameri- 
can shores.  With  this  little  craft,  in  1614,  he  set  out  carefully  to  ex- 
plore the  coast  to  the  eastward.  The  following  passage  is  taken  from 
J.  R.  Brodhead  (History  of  the  State  of  New  York,  second  edition, 
vol.  i.  p.  56)  :  — 

"  Sailing  boldly  through  the  then  dangerous  Strait  of  '  the  Hell-gate '  into  '  the 
Great  Bay,'  or  Long  Island  Sound,  he  carefully  'explored  all  the  places  there- 
about,' as  far  as  Cape  Cod.  Coasting  along  the  northern  shore,  inhabited  by  the 
Siwanoos,  Block  gave  the  name  of  '  Archipelagos '  to  the  group  of  Islands  oppo- 
site Norwalk.  At  the  present  town  of  Stratford  he  visited  the  'Biver  of  Booden- 
berg,  or  Bed  Hills,'  now  known  as  the  '  Housatonic,'  which  lie  described  as 
about  '  a  bow-shot  wide,'  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  dwelt  the  indolent 
tribe  of  Quiripey  Indians.  Bassing  eastward  along  the  bay  at  the  head  of  which 
New  Haven  now  stands,  and  which,  on  account  of  the  red  sandstone  hills  in  its 
neighborhood,  the  Dutch  also  soon  called  the  '  Boodenberg,'  Block  came  to  the 
mouth  of  a  large  river  running  up  [reaching  up]  northerly  into  the  land.  At  its  en- 
trance into  the  Sound  it  was  '  very  shallow,'  and  Block,  observing  that  there  were 
but  few  inhabitants  near  its  mouth,  ascended  the  river  to  the  rapids  at  the  head 
of  navigation  [Enfield  Falls,  at  Warehouse  Point].  Near  Wethersfield  he 
found  the  numerous  Indian  tribe  of  Sequins.  At  the  latitude  of  41°  48',  be- 
tween Hartford  and  Windsor,  he  came  to  a  fortified  village  of  the  Nawaas  tribe. 
.  .  .  From  the  circumstance  that  a  strong  downward  current  was  perceived  at  a 
short  distance  above  its  mouth,  Block  immediately  named  this  beautiful  stream 
the  '  Versch,'  or  '  Fresh  Water  Biver.'  By  the  native  savages  it  was  called  the 
Connittecock,' or  '  Quonehtacut,'  and  the  aboriginal  appellation  survives  to  the 
present  day  in  the  name  of  the  river  and  the  State  of  Connecticut." 

Rivers  are  generally  supposed  to  be  fres7i,  but  the  meaning  of  the 
word  in  this  connection  is  that  the  tide  in  the  Connecticut  did  not  set 
back  so  far  from  its  mouth  as  in  rivers  usually. 

This  was  in  1614,  and  no  English  craft  of  any  size  ever  passed  up 
the  river  till  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  later.  Meanwhile  the  Dutch 
went  forward  to  establish  a  system  of  trade  with  the  natives  along  the 
river,  as  they  had  done  on  the  Hudson  River,  and  wherever  they  had 
gained  friendly  access  to  the  Indians.  Vessels  were  coming  and  going 
between  Holland  and  Manhattan  Island,  and  a  considerable  trade  had 
sprung  up  to  the  advantage  of  both  parties. 

With  this  incoming  tide  of  prosperity  the  Dutch  merchants  and 
traders  went  before  the  States  General  of  Holland,  and  spreading  out  a 
carefully  prepared  map  of  their  discoveries,  asked  a  charter  under  which 
they  might  go  forward  in  a  work  likely  to  be  advantageous  to  the  whole 
country.  The  States  General  were  in  a  complying  mood,  and  by  right 
of  first  discovery  they  gave  a  broad  charter^covering  the  territory  from 
the  Virginia  plantations  on  the  south,  to  Canada  on  the  north.  The 
first  grant  made  by  the  States  General  was  in  the  way  of  authority 
given  to  the  discoverers  to  make  four  voyages,  within  the  space  of  three 
years  from  Jan.  1,  1615,  to  those  new  lands  for  their  own  benefit,  and 
as  a  special  reward  for  their  services.     This  is  set  forth  as  follows  :  — 

"  We,  therefore,  in  our  Assembly  having  heard  the  pertinent  Beport  of  the 
petitioners,  relative  to  the  discoveries  and  finding  of  the  said  new  countries 


DUTCH   TRADERS   ON   THE   RIVER.  17 

between  the  above-named  limits  and  degrees,  and  also  of  their  adventures,  have 
consented  and  granted,  and  by  these  presents  do  consent  and  grant,  to  the  said 
Petitioners  now  united  into  one  Company  that  they  shall  be  privileged  exclu- 
sively to  frequent,  or  cause  to  be  visited,  the  above  newly  discovered  lands, 
situate  in  America  between  New  France  and  Virginia,  whereof  the  Sea  coasts  lie 
between  the  fortieth  and  forty-fifth  degrees  of  latitude,  now  named  New  Nether- 
land,"  etc. 

The  power  that  thus  granted  the  use  of  these  waters  and  lands  for 
three  years  was  the  power  which  at  the  expiration  of  this  period 
would  claim  the  right  to  govern  and  control  these  wide-reaching  terri- 
tories for  the  benefit  of  the  United  Netherlands.  If  we  inquire  upon 
what  basis  this  power  rested,  we  shall  find  that  it  was  simply  the 
common  claim  arising  from  first  discovery.  That  had  been  regarded 
by  other  nations  as  valid  authority,  and  the  Dutch  would  hold  by  the 
same  rule. 

The  whole  subject  of  European  charters  covering  wild  lands  was  at 
that  time  in  a  very  loose  and  conflicting  condition.  In  the  charter 
given  to  Virginia  by  James  I.,  only  a  few  years  before,  the  whole  ter- 
ritory was  conveyed  from  34°  to  45°  north  latitude.  Of  course  this 
grant  swept  over  all  the  places  actually  discovered  by  the  Dutch.  But 
they  were  in  as  good  condition  as  others.  There  was  no  clear  consist- 
ency among  these  European  charters.  As  all  the  northern  portion  of 
the  Virginia  grant  was  as  yet  unoccupied  by  whites,  it  seemed  natural 
that  the  Dutch,  as  the  first  comors,  should  take  possession. 

It  was  eighteen  years  after  the  Dutch  discovery  of  the  Connecticut 
River,  and  after  they  had  purchased  land  of  the  Indians  and  built  a 
trading-house,  the  "  House  of  Hope,"  at  what  is  now  Hartford,  before 
any  English  settler  had  appeared  on  its  banks.  It  will  have  to  be  ad- 
mitted that  the  Dutch  were  very  rudely  treated  by  our  English  fathers. 
The  English  people  seemed  to  act  as  if  they  were  in  the  right  and  the 
Dutch  were  mere  intruders.  But  it  would  have  been  very  hard  for 
them  to  show  that  they  really  had  any  rights,  by  European  charters, 
superior  to  their  predecessors ;  and  if  they  had  no  superior  rights,  then 
they  were  decidedly  inferior,  for  manifestly  the  Dutch  were  the  first 
discoverers,  and  first  on  the  ground.  Their  trading-house  at  Hartford 
is  "said  to  have  been  projected  and  begun"  in  1623,1  fully  ten  years 
before  the  first  Englishman  made  his  appearance  in  those  parts. 
The  Dutch  statement  on  this  point  is  as  follows :  — 

"  In  the  beginning,  before  the  English  were  ever  spoken  of,  our  people,  as  we 
find  it  written,  first  carefully  explored  and  discovered  the  northern  parts  of  New 
Netherland  and  some  distance  on  the  other  side  of  Cape  Cod,  and  even  planted 
an  ensign  on,  and  took  possession  of,  Cape  Cod.  Anno  1614,  our  traders  not 
only  trafficked  at  the  Fresh  river,  but  had  also  ascended  it  before  any  English 
people  had  ever  dreamed  of  coming  there  ;  the  latter  arrived  there  for  the  first 
time  in  the  year  1636  [this  is  a  mistake,  it  should  be  1633]  after  our  Fort 
Good  Hope  had  been  a  long  time  in  existence,  and  almost  all  the  land  on  both 
sides  of  the  river  had  been  bought  by  our  people  from  the  Indians ;  which  pur- 
chase took  place  principally  in  the  year  1632."  2 

1  Brodhead's  History  of  the  State  of  New  York,  vol.  i.  p.  153;  though  "it  was  not 
finished  until  1633,  ten  years  afterward." 

2  Ibid.,  i.  287. 
VOL.    I.  —  2. 


18  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

This  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  English  was  alike  unjust  and  un- 
grateful. The  Dutch  in  the  United  Netherlands  had  established  an 
asylum  for  the  oppressed,  and  there,  through  the  years  of  English 
persecution,  our  Pilgrim  and  Puritan  forefathers  had  found  a  secure 
refuge.  Not  a  few  of  the  leading  men  among  the  Puritan  population 
of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  had  been  personally  befriended  and 
protected  among  the  Dutch  in  Holland. 

When  the  English  settlements  were  planted  on  the  river  at  Wethers- 
field,  Hartford,  and  Windsor,  they  did  not  at  once  drive  away  the  Dutch 
by  violence,  but  they  began  to  worry  them  away  by  meddlesome  and 
unfair  legislation,  like  the  following,  passed  by  the  General  Court  of 
Connecticut  in  June,  1640  :  — 

"Whereas  the  Dutch  Catle  are  impounded  for  trespassing  the  Englishmen's 
corne,  It  is  the  judgment  of  the  Courte  that  the  Dutchmen  shall  he  made  ac- 
quainted wth  the  trespasse,  and  satisfaction  demaunded,  the  wch  if  they  refuse  to 
pay,  the  Cattell  are  to  be  kepte  in  the  pownd  three  dayes,  and  then  to  be  prysed 
and  sold,  and  the  trespasse  to  be  satisfied,  together  \vth  the  chardge  of  impound- 
ing, keepeing  and  tending  the  said  Catle  during  their  custody." 1 

The  Dutch  might  very  naturally  have  answered,  as  in  the  story  of 
the  "  Unjust  Judge,"  in  the  spelling-book,  that  it  was  the  Englishman's 
cattle  that  trespassed  on  the  Dutchman's  corn-lands. 

The  following,  also  taken  from  the  Connecticut  Colonial  Records 
for  September,  1649,  is  decidedly  cool,  considering,  as  we  have  said, 
that  the  Dutch  built  their  trading-house  and  bought  the  Indian  lands 
before  any  Englishman  put  in  an  appearance  in  all  that  region.  Under 
a  charge  that  the  Dutch  sold  guns  to  the  Indians,  the  General  Court 
passed  the  following :  — 

"  It  is  hereby  ordered,  that  after  due  publication  hereof,  it  shall  not  be  law- 
full  for  any  Frenchman,  Dutchman,  or  person  of  any  other  Forraigne  nation,  or 
any  English  lining  amongste  them  or  under  the  gouernment  of  them  or  any  of 
them,  to  trade  with  any  Indian  or  Indians  within  the  limmitts  of  this  Jurissdic- 
tion,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  by  themselues  or  others,  vnder  penalty  of  con- 
fisscation  of  all  such  goods  and  vessells  as  shall  be  found  so  trading,  or  the  due 
value  thereof,  vppon  just  proofe  of  any  goods  or  any  vessells  so  trading  or 
traded." 2 

About  this  time  (1648-1653)  the  English  and  Dutch  at  home  were 
involved  in  a  war ;  and  this  happened  fortunately  for  the  English  on 
these  shores.  They  did  not  always  cherish  a  great  love  for  Old  Eng- 
land, or  exert  themselves  much  to  do  her  service ;  but  now  they  felt 
that  they  ought  also  to  be  at  war  with  the  Dutch,  to  help  out  their  own 
politics.  Accordingly  the  "  House  of  Hope,"  as  the  Dutch  called  their 
fort  at  Hartford,  was  sequestered  or  confiscated ;  and  then  came  along 
Captain  John  Underhill  with  his  military  nien,  he  being  then  in  the 
service  of  Rhode  Island,  who  seized  this  fort,  with  its  contents,  and  it 
was  sold  to  compensate  Underhill  for  his  warlike  services  generally. 
In  all  this  story  we  have  to  confess  that  we  cannot  praise  our  fathers, 
or  take  their  part  in  their  treatment  of  their  Dutch  neighbors. 

1  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut,  vol.  i.  p.  51. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  197.  [It  should  be  noted  here,  that  this  order  was  drawn  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England,  at  their  July  session,  1649,  and  was 
adopted  by  Connecticut  and  other  colonies  on  their  recommendation. —  Ed.] 


THE  RIVER  TOWNS   PLANTED.  19 


SECTION  III. 

HOW   THE  RIVER   TOWNS   CAME  TO  BE  PLANTER 

BY    THE    REV.    INCREASE    N".    TARBOX,    D.D. 

I. —  MOTIVES   TO  EMIGRATION   FROM   MASSACHUSETTS. 

Hartford  County  naturally  holds  a  different  relation  to  the  State 
of  Connecticut  from  that  of  any  other  county  in  the  State.  It  is  in 
some  sense  the  mother  rather  than  the  child.  But  the  three  towns  first 
planted  on  the  river — Wethersficld,  Hartford,  and  Windsor  —  were, 
strictly  speaking,  the  original  cradle  of  empire,  and  both  the  county 
and  the  State  owe  their  existence  to  the  towns.  Before  the  planting 
of  these  towns  there  was  an  antecedent  history  leading  up  to  this  event, 
which  might,  under  other  conditions,  be  expanded  into  a  volume. 

Alexander  Johnston,  A.M.,  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  read 
a  paper  before  the  Historical  and  Political  Science  Association  in  1883, 
entitled  "  The  Genesis  of  a  New  England  State,"  which  has  since  been 
published  in  a  pamphlet.  He  sets  forth  very  distinctly  the  chaotic  con- 
dition of  land  titles  and  political  authorities  out  of  which  the  State  of 
Connecticut  rose  into  being.     Mr.  Johnston  says  (p.  10)  :  — 

"In  1634,  then,  the  territory  now  occupied  by  the  State  of  Connecticut  was 
a  veritable  No-Man's-Land.  It  had  been  granted,  indeed,  to  the  Plymouth  Coun- 
cil, but  the  grant  stood  much  on  a  par  with  a  presentation  of  a  bear-skin  whose 
natural  owner  was  yet  at  large  in  the  forest.  On  the  north,  the  Massachusetts 
boundary  line  had  been  defined  by  charter,  though  its  exact  location  in  its  whole 
length  was  still  in  the  air ;  on  the  east,  the  Plymouth  purchase  boundary  was  in 
the  same  condition.  The  debatable  ground  between  these  unsettled  boundaries 
offered  one  of  the  few  opportunities  which  the  town  system  had  to  show  how  it 
can  build  up  the  body  as  well  as  provide  the  spirit  for  a  State." 

Dr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  by  his  discoveries  of  valuable  historical 
papers  and  his  various  writings,  has  shed  much  light  upon  this  antece- 
dent, as  well  as  upon  the  early  history  of  Connecticut.  Many  other 
writers  have  contributed  to  clear  up  the  questions  belonging  to  this  de- 
batable ground.  But  we  cannot  here  undertake  to  traverse  this  large 
and  interesting  field.1 

Turning,  then,  to  the  colony  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  from  which 
the  founders  and  fathers  of  Connecticut  came,  let  us  inquire  into  the 
causes  impelling  them  to  this  emigration,  and  the  facts  connected  with 
their  removals.  The  Massachusetts  Company  received  its  charter  in 
1628,  and  John  Endicott,  Governor,  with  a  few  families,  came  over  that 
year  and  settled  in  Salem.     In  1629  a  larger  company  arrived,  and 

1  See,  for  example,  "  The  Massachusetts  Colonial  Records,"  vol.  i.  ;  "Connecticut  Co- 
lonial Records,"  vol.  i.  (with  notes  and  appendices  by  Dr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull)  ;  Winthrop's 
"  History  of  New  England  ;  "  Palfrey's  "  History  .of  New  England  ;"  Trumbull's  "  History  of 
Connecticut ;  "  Mather's  "Magnalia  ;  "  Walker's  "  History  of  the  First  Church  of  Hartford  ;" 
Stiles's  "  History  of  Ancient  Windsor." 


20  MEMORIAL  HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Salem,  which  had  been  a  little  settlement,  became  a  town,  and  the  Salem 
Church  was  organized  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Messrs.  Higginson  and 
Skelton.  In  1630  a  far  larger  company  came  over,  bringing  the  charter 
and  John  Winthrop  the  Governor ;  and  Charlestown,  Dorchester,  and 
Watertown  came  into  being,  each  with  a  newly  organized  church.  This 
process  went  rapidly  on  until,  in  1635,  there  were  in  existence  in  the 
Bay  twelve  churches,  or  what  is  the  same,  as  to  numbers,  twelve  towns. 
As  early  as  1633,  but  more  distinctly  in  1634,  we  discover  signs  of  dis- 
content in  these  Massachusetts  towns,  and  men  were  talking  together 
about  changing  their  places  of  residence.  The  earliest  sign  of  this  dis- 
content, which  we  discover  through  the  published  Massachusetts  Rec- 
ords, was  in  Cambridge,  where  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker  the  year  before 
(1633)  had  come  over  and  joined  a  church  and  congregation,  which 
were  eagerly  waiting  his  arrival. 

"Att   a    Gcnrall    Courtc,   holden   att    Boston,  May  14th,  1634"    the 
following  vote  was  passed  :  — 

"  There  is  leaue  graunted  to  the  inhabitants  of  Xewe  Towne  [Cambridge]  to 
seeke  out  some  convenient  place  for  them,  with  pmise  that  it  shalbe  confirmed 
vnto  them,  to  which  they  may  remove  their  habitations,  or  haue  as  an  addicon  to 
that  wch  already  they  haue,  pvided  they  doe  not  take  it  in  any  place  to  piudice 
a  plantacon  already  setled."  1 

From  the  wording  of  this  vote  it  is  obvious  that  the  Court  did  not 
then  contemplate  any  removal  of  the  Cambridge  people  except  to  some 
place  within  or  just  outside  the  existing  settlements  in  the  Bay.  This 
was  in  May,  1634.  In  the  September  following  (September  25)  the 
subject  came  up  again.  Grants  of  meadow  land,  heretofore  belonging 
to  Watertown,  and  some  grounds  about  Muddy  River,  which  had  be- 
longed to  Boston,  were  given  to  Newtowne,  — 

"  Provided  .  .  .  that  if  Mr.  Hooker  and  the  congrecon  nowe  setled  here  shall 
remove  hence,  then  the  aforesaid  meadowe  ground  shall  returne  to  Waterton, 
and  the  ground  at  Muddy  Ryver  to   Boston."2 

As  already  said,  the  first  of  these  extracts  makes  it  plain  that  the 
members  of  the  Court  at  that  time  could  not  have  been  thinking  of  any 
distant  removal.  It  would  have  been  quite  unnecessary  to  hint  that  a 
settlement  there  could  be  "  to  piudice  a  plantacon  already  setled." 

This  uneasy  spirit,  however,  continued  to  spread.  At  the  General 
Court  held  May  6,  1635, 

"There  [was]  liberty  graunted  to  the  inhabitants  of  Waterton  to  remove 
themselves  to  any  place  they  shall  think  meete  to  make  choise  of,  pvided  they 
continue  still  vndr  this  goum*  "  8 

At  the  same  court, 

"  The  inhabitants  of  Rocksbury  hath  liberty  graunted  them  to  remove  them- 
selves to  any  place  they  shall  thinke  meete,  not  Xo  piudice  another  plantacon, 
pvided  they  continue  still  vnder  this  goum'." 

And  at  the  adjourned  Court,  June  3, 

"  There  [was]  like  leave  graunted  to  the  inhabitants  of  Dorchestr,  for  their 
removal!,  as  Waterton  hath  graunted  to  them."  * 

1  Massachusetts  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  119..  2  Ibid.,  pp.  129,  130. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  146.  4  Ibid.,  p.  118. 


THE   RIVER  TOWNS   PLANTED.  21 

Such  wide-spread  restlessness  in  four  of  the  chief  settlements  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay,  within  four  years  after  these  towns  were  planted,  is, 
of  itself,  a  curious  fact  for  the  historical  student.  It  was  not  that  these 
people  had  repented  of  coining  to  America.  In  all  this  zeal  for  removal 
there  seems  to  have  been  no  desire  to  return  to  their  old  homes  in  Eng- 
land. And  if  they  were  to  remain  on  these  shores,  there  was  no  place 
where  they  could  have  such  security  against  the  dangers  by  which  they 
were  surrounded  as  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay.  Here  society  was  already 
organized  with  a  large  measure  of  strength,  and  the  blessings  of  neighbor- 
hood, so  desirable  in  a  new  land,  could  be  found  there  as  nowhere  else. 
Yet  in  spite  of  all  considerations  of  this  kind,  here  were  four  of  the  chief 
settlements  in  the  Massachusetts  colony  filled  with  a  spirit  of  unrest 
and  dissatisfaction  with  their  surroundings.  Of  the  four  towns  which 
had  obtained  the  right  to  remove,  Roxbury  does  not  particularly  concern 
us,  since  the  company  led  out  from  that  place  by  William  Pynchon 
founded  Springfield,  Mass.,  then  called  by  its  Indian  name  Agawam. 
There  was  a  tendency  at  first  to  link  Agawam,  as  to  government,  with 
the  towns  below ;  but  after  a  little  it  was  determined  that  it  was  in 
Massachusetts,  and  it  was  governed  accordingly. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  right  to  remove  had  been  granted  by  the  depu- 
ties of  the  General  Court,  but  there  are  evidences  that  the  magistrates 
were  strongly  opposed  to  the  scheme  and  did  all  that  they  reasonably 
could  do  to  frustrate  it.  It  was  certainly  natural  that  they  should  feel 
so.  Here  was  a  great  enterprise  intrusted  to  their  keeping,  which  at 
the  best  was  beset  with  many  difficulties,  and  which  was  now,  in  its  very 
infancy,  threatened  with  the  loss  of  a  large  portion  of  its  intelligence 
and  strength.  It  was  exceedingly  depressing  that  the  high  hopes  at- 
tendant upon  the  beginning  of  the  planting  in  the  Bay  should  be  so  soon 
overshadowed  with  doubt.  At  the  first,  as  we  have  already  said,  when 
these  suggestions  of  removal  began  to  be  whispered  abroad,  it  was  sup- 
posed that  the  new  settlements  would  be  near  at  hand,  and  that  the  real 
strength  of  the  Massachusetts  plantations  would  not  be  materially  weak- 
ened. But  at  length  it  began  to  appear  that  the  distant  valley  of  the 
Connecticut  was  the  territory  to  be  occupied.  In  various  ways,  since 
1630,  this  rich  and  fertile  valley  had  been  brought  to  the  notice  of  the 
Massachusetts  settlers.  An  Indian  sachem  came  to  Boston  in  1631, 
hoping  to  secure  an  English  colony  to  be  settled  on  the  river.  Through 
this,  and  the  various  movements  of  the  Dutch  and  the  Plymouth  people, 
as  also  the  giving  of  land  grants  on  the  territory,  there  was  considerable 
knowledge  of  the  Connecticut  River  and  the  rich  lands  along  its  borders 
at  the  time  when  these  questions  of  removal  were  up  for  consideration. 
To  all  these  discontented  people  the  privilege  of  removal  had  been 
granted,  "  pvided  they  continue  still  vnd1'  this  goumV  The  charter 
of  Massachusetts  had  been  defined  in  general  terms,  but  no  surveyor 
had  yet  been  sent  through  the  wilderness  to  fix  the  boundary  lines 
in  accordance  with  the  language  of  the  charter.  No  man  in  Boston 
could  then  tell  certainly  where  the  southern  boundary  of  Massachusetts 
would  cross  the  Connecticut  River.  Long  afterward  it  was  settled  that 
this  line  was  coincident  with  the  southern  boundary  of  the  present  town 
of  Longmeadow.  But  in  1635  the  men  of  Boston,  looking  off  upon  the 
western  wilderness,  could  only  have  a  bewildered  idea  of  lines  and  limi- 
tations.    Though  it  cannot  very  well  be  doubted  that  the  chief  desire 


22     '  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

for  change  on  the  part  of  those  removing  was  that  they  might  no  longer 
be  under  the  Massachusetts  government,  yet,  for  the  time  being,  it  was 
convenient  not  to  discuss  those  points  too  critically. 

At  the  session  of  the  General  Court  in  September,  1634,  this  whole 
business  of  the  removal  came  up  for  long  and  warm  discussion.  We 
find  no  report  of  this  discussion  in  the  "  Massachusetts  Records,"  but 
Governor  Winthrop  has  preserved  a  detailed  account  of  it  in  his  Jour- 
nal. Everything  in  his  description  goes  to  show  that  this  was  regarded 
as  a  most  important  debate  :  — 

September  4.  "  The  general  court  began  at  Newtown,  and  continued  a  week, 
and  then  was  adjourned  fourteen  days.  Mauy  things  were  there  agitated  and 
concluded.  .  .  .  Bat  the  main  business,  which  spent  the  most  time,  and  caused 
the  adjourniug  of  the  court,  was  about  the  removal  of  Newtown.  They  had  leave, 
the  last  general  court,  to  look  out  some  place  for  enlargement  or  removal,  with 
promise  to  have  it  confirmed  to  them  if  it  were  not  prejudicial  to  any  other  plan- 
tation :  and  now  they  moved  that  they  might  have  leave  to  remove  to  Connecti- 
cut. The  matter  was  debated  divers  days,  and  many  reasons  alleged  pro  and 
con." 

Here  follow  the  heads  of  the  principal  reasons  and  arguments,  on 
both  sides ;  and 

"  Upon  these  and  other  arguments,  the  court  being  divided,  it  was  put  to 
vote ;  and  of  the  deputies,  fifteen  were  for  their  departure  and  ten  against  it. 
The  Governour  and  two  assistants  were  for  it,  and  the  Deputy  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  assistants  were  against  it  (except  the  Secretary,  who  gave  no  vote) ;  where- 
upon no  record  was  entered,  because  there  were  not  six  assistants  in  the  vote,  as 
the  patent  requires.  Upon  this  grew  a  great  difference  between  the  governour  and 
assistants,  and  the  deputies."  1 

The  governor  that  year  was  Thomas  Dudley ;  the  deputy-governor, 
Roger  Ludlowe ;  and  the  assistants  were  John  Winthrop,  Sr.,-  John 
Humfry,  John  Haynes,  John  Endicott,  William  Pynchon,  Increase 
Nowell,  William  Coddington,  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  and  Simon  Brad- 
street.     But  all  of  these  assistants  were  not  present  at  the  meeting. 

In  the  spring  of  1635  John  Haynes  was  chosen  governor  in  the 
place  of  Thomas  Dudley,  and  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  General  Court 
of  Election  (May  6)  was  to  grant  "  liberty  to  the  inhabitants  of  Water- 
ton  to  remove  themselves  to  any  place  they  shall  thinke  meete  to  make 
choise  of,  pvided  they  continue  still  vnder  this  goumV  At  an  ad- 
journed session  of  this  Court,  June  3,  after  a  vote  of  "  like  leave 
granted  to  the  inhabitants  of  Dorchester,  for  their  removeall,  as  Water- 
ton  hath  graunted  to  them,"  — 

"  Also,  there  are  three  peeces  [cannon]  granted  to  the  plantacons  that  shall 
remove  to  Conecticott,  to  ffortifie  themselues  withall."2 

This  is  the  first  formal  recognition  of  the  plantations  "  at  Connecti- 
cut" which  appears  in  the  records  of  the  General  Court.  Three  months 
later,  at  the  September  Court,  several  orders  were  made  for  the  protec- 
tion and  good  government  of  these  distant  plantations  :  — 

"  Wiftm  Westwood  is  sworne  constable  of  the  plantacons  att  Conecticott  till 
some  other  be  chosen." 

1  Winthrop,  vol.  i.  pp.  140,  141. 

2  Massachusetts  Eeconls,  vol.  i.  p.  148. 


THE   RIVER  TOWNS   PLANTED.  23 

"  There  is  power  graunted  to  any  magistrate  to  sweare  a  constable  att  any 
plantacon  att  Conecticott,  when  the  inhabitants  shall  desire  the  same."  * 

"  It  was  ordered,  that  there  shalbe  two  drakes  [small  cannon]  lent  to  the 
plantacons  att  Conecticott,  to  ffortifie  themselues  withall,  as  also  sixe  barrells  of 
powder  (2  out  of  Waterton,  2  out  of  Dorchester,  &  2  out  of  Eocksbury),  also  200 
shott,  with  other  implem'8  belonging  to  the  peeces,  that  may  conveniently  be 
spared,  all  wch  are  to  be  returned  againe  vpon  demaund.  Captaine  Vnderhill  & 
Mr.  Beecher  are  to  deliuer  theis  things."  2 

"  It  was  ordered,  that  euy  towne  vpon  Conecticott  shall  haue  liberty  to 
chuse  theire  owne  constable,  whoe  shalbe  sworne  by  some  magistrate  of  this 
Court."3 

It  is  to  be  noticed  that  these  orders  of  the  General  Court  were  made 
some  time  before  the  companies  of  emigrants  had  left  their  Massachu- 
setts homes.  Individuals  had  gone  to  prospect  and  prepare  the  way, 
but  the  great  body  of  the  colonists  did  not  leave  until  the  spring  of 
1636.  Some  of  "those  of  Dorchester"  "  removed  their  cattle  to  Con- 
necticut before  winter,"  1635,  and  "  were  put  to  great  straits  for  want 
of  provisions,"  and  "  a  great  part  of  the  old  [church  of  Dorchester]  " 
had  gone  before  the  first  of  March,  1636.4  They  knew  not  certainly, 
any  more  than  the  magistrates  in  the  Bay,  whether  or  not  they  were 
going  outside  of  the  Massachusetts  jurisdiction,  nor  did  they  then  care 
to  discuss  that  point.  They  departed  as  "  freemen  and  members  "  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company,  and  bound  for  the  present  to  obey 
its  laws.  They  accepted,  apparently  without  objection,  the  appoint- 
ment of  eight  men  from  among  the  colonists,  to  whom  the  business  of 
government  should  be  intrusted  for  one  year,  and  who  should  hold 
themselves  responsible  to  the  power  that  appointed  them.  So,  in  the 
year  1636,  the  three  bodies  of  emigrants  coming  from  Watertown,  Cam- 
bridge, and  Dorchester,  were  gathered  here  in  the  Connecticut  valley, 
bringing  the  names  of  their  old  homes  along  with  them.  What  were 
soon  the  towns  of  Wethersfield,  Hartford,  and  Windsor  were  at  the  first 
Watertowne,  Newtowne  (the  early  name  of  Cambridge),  and  Dorchester 
plantations. 

If  we  inquire  into  the  causes  producing  this  wide-spread  dissatis- 
faction and  desire  for  change  among  the  people  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay,  it  may  be  difficult  to  state  the  case  fully  and  exactly.  Some  of 
the  reasons  urged  for  removal  certainly  were  not  very  weighty.  The 
settlers  in  the  Bay  complained  that  they  had  not  room  enough  for  ex- 
pansion, had  not  sufficient  pasturage  for  their  cattle.  But  surely  the 
unoccupied  world  around  them  was  very  large.  The  territory  then 
taken  up  by  them  was  only  an  infinitesimal  fraction  of  the  broad  domain 
covered  by  the  Massachusetts  charter.  If  it  was  land  only  that  they 
wanted,  they  might  have  helped  themselves  to  the  spreading  acres  reach- 
ing off  on  every  side,  and  still  kept  themselves  within  the  shelter  and 
protection  of  established  society. 

The  reports  which  had  from  time  to  time  been  brought  to  them  of 
the  Connecticut  valley  had  doubtless  stirred  their  imaginations.  The 
word  "  Connecticut "  meant  to  them  then  only  the  valley.  Of  the  hill 
country  east  and  west  of  the  river,  which  now  makes  so  large  a  portion 

1  Massachusetts  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  159.  2  Ibid.,  p.  160. 

8  Ibid.,  p.  160.  4  Winthrop,  vol.  i.  pp.  183,  184. 


24  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

of  the  State,  they  knew  little  or  nothing.  But  the  story  of  the  valley,  its 
richness,  beauty,  and  extent,  had  reached  their  ears  and  charmed  their 
thoughts.  It  was  lying  there,  in  the  far  west,  like  some  fair  promised 
land  waiting  for  its  chosen  people.  But  they  could  not  be  unaware  of 
the  great  hardships  and  dangers  which  must  attend  the  attempt  to 
remove  thither,  and  if  there  had  not  been  some  causes  of  irritation  and 
disturbance  greater  than  those  already  mentioned,  we  may  be  quite 
sure  that  they  would  have  remained,  for  the  time  being,  quietly  in  the 
Massachusetts  Bay. 

The  great  controversies  about  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson  and  her  doc- 
trines, which  so  convulsed  Boston  and  the  neighboring  towns,  had  not 
begun  at  the  time  when  this  uneasiness  first  manifested  itself  in  the 
Massachusetts  settlements.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  did  not  come  over  until 
1034.  When  the  New  Haven  colony  came  into  the  Boston  Bay  in  1637, 
with  the  general  intention  of  settling  in  that  vicinity,  this  strife  about 
faith  and  works  was  in  full  activity  and  was  rending  society  with  its 
fierce  antagonisms.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  fact  had  much  to 
do  in  turning  the  New  Haven  people  away  to  seek  another  home.  But 
this  cannot  be  urged  as  the  source  of  that  discontent  of  which  we  are 
now  trying  to  find  the  causes.  It  is  true,  before  the  Connecticut  emi- 
grants left  the  bay,  the  seeds  of  this  religious  strife  had  been  sown  and 
the  wordy  war  was  beginning,  and  this  may  have  made  those  preparing 
to  depart  only  the  more  ready  to  hasten  their  steps. 

There  used  to  be  a  rude  and  summary  way  of  settling  the  question 
now  before  us.  It  was  said  that  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker  and  Mr.  John 
Cotton  were  jealous  of  each  other,  —  that  they  were  both  too  great  to 
live  peaceably  under  the  same  jurisdiction,  and  so  Mr.  Hooker  with- 
drew, and  the  Connecticut  Colony  was  born  out  of  this  contest  for 
supremacy.  How  crude  this  is  as  a  piece  of  political  philosophy  will 
appear  from  a  few  brief  considerations.  Mr.  Cotton  and  Mr.  Hooker 
came  over  in  the  same  vessel,  the  ship  "  Griffin,"  in  1633.  Mr.  Hooker's 
old  friends,  to  whom  he  had  ministered  in  England,  with  some  others, 
had  already  gathered  themselves  together  at  Cambridge  (then  New- 
towne)  and  were  eagerly  looking  for  his  arrival.  This  he  understood  ; 
and  when  he  landed  here  in  September,  1633,  he  had  no  other  thought 
or  wish  except  to  join  immediately  his  waiting  people.  Nothing  but 
the  sternest  sense  of  duty  could  have  prevailed  upon  him  to  take  any 
other  course.  It  was  not  determined  beforehand  where  Mr.  Cotton 
should  go;  and  when  he  found  his  natural  place  in  the  Boston  church, 
as  colleague  with  Mr.  John  Wilson,  it  was  not  so  certainly  true  that  he 
had  found  the  place  he  wanted,  as  it  was  that  Mr.  Hooker  had  found 
the  place  he  wanted.  Again,  if  Mr.  Hooker  was  the  chief  mover  of 
discontent,  how  should  it  happen  that  there  was  almost  as  early  and 
as  strong  a  desire  for  removal  in  the  Dorchester  plantation  as  in  the 
Ncwtowne  ?  The  ministers  at  Dorchester,  -Mr.  John  Maverick  and  Mr. 
John  Warham,  did  not  wish  to  undertake  the  planting  of  a  new  colony. 
They  much  preferred  to  remain  where  they  were,  and  threw  their  influ- 
ence in  that  direction.  But  their  people,  in  spite  of  the  opinions  of  the 
ministers,  were  bent  on  removing.  Mr.  Maverick  died  before  the  jour- 
ney was  made,  but  Mr.  Warham  was  carried  to  Windsor  by  the  prevail- 
ing opinion  of  his  church  and  people,  and  not  of  his  own  motion. 

In  Watertown  the  case  was  different.     The  movement  from  that 


THE   RIVER   TOWNS   PLANTED.  25 

place  was  by  individuals,  and  not  by  the  church  as  a  body.  It  is  claimed 
that  some  of  the  Watertown  people,  removing  to  what  is  now  Wethers- 
field,  were  earlier  on  the  Connecticut  soil  than  any  of  the  settlers  in  the 
other  plantations.  It  would  appear  that  some  of  them  were  here  in  the 
year  1634.  But  this  movement  from  Watertown,  continued  more  at 
length  and  in  little  companies,  did  not  carry  the  church  organization 
with  it.1 

The  ministers  and  magistrates  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  as  a  rule 
did  not  favor  this  emigration,  but  opposed  it.  They  belonged  to  the 
privileged  and  governing  class,  and  were  content  with  their  lot.  The 
only  real  exception  appears  to  have  been  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Hooker. 
Mr.  Stone,  his  associate,  would  doubtless  remain  with  him  on  these 
shores,  whether  he  went  to  Hartford  or  stayed  at  Newtowne.  In  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  he  was  almost  a  part  of  Mr.  Hooker  himself. 
But  Mr.  Hooker's  sympathies  clearly  ran  with  the  discontented  people 
in  the  Massachusetts  settlements.  Governor  John  Haynes,  who  came 
over  with  Mr.  Hooker  in  the  ship  "  Griffin,"  was  of  the  same  mind. 

When  we  speak  ot  organized  churches  removing  in  bodies,  a  word 
of  caution  may  be  needful  to  prevent  misunderstanding.  It  is  not  meant 
that  the  whole  membership  of  the  Hooker  church  at  Newtowne  went 
to  Hartford,  or  the  whole  membership  of  the  church  of  Dorchester  to 
Windsor.  The  question  of  going  or  staying  was  doubtless  in  both 
cases  decided  by  the  major  vote  of  the  voting  members.  None  of  full 
age  were  compelled  to  go  who  preferred  to  remain.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  emigrants  were  not  limited  to  church-members.  The  Dorchester 
company  had  been  at  their  American  home  five  years  before  this  new 
enterprise  was  undertaken.  There  had  grown  up  in  that  plantation  a 
considerable  population  additional  to  that  which  came  over  in  the  "  Mary 
&  John  "  in  1(330.  The  increase  had  been  partly  by  birth,  but  chiefly  by 
new-comers  who  were  dropping  in  every  year.  When  the  question  of 
removal  came  up,  the  major  part  of  the  church  decided  to  go.  But  not 
a  few  church-members  stayed  behind ;  and  within  three  months  after 
the  John  Warham  church  left  for  Windsor,  another  church  was  organ- 
ized on  that  soil  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Mr.  Richard  Mather.  So  at 
Newtowne,  when  the  Hooker  company  had  taken  their  departure,  a 
church  under  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard  (afterward  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Hooker) 
was  immediately  formed  in  that  settlement,  to  meet  the  wants  of  those 
who  remained  behind  and  of  others  coming  in. 

But  still  the  question  returns  upon  us,  what  were  the  causes  incit- 
ing to  this  wide-spread  desire  in  men  to  remove  out  of  the  bounds  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bay.  The  shape  and  order  of  the  government  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company  were  fixed  in  England  before  the 
charter  came  over  in  1630.     It  was  a  system  in  which  the  real  powers 

1  The  church  of  Watertown,  organized  in  the  closing  days  of  July,  1630,  and  placed 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  Mr.  George  Phillips,  is  still  on  the  Watertown  soil,  and  celebrated 
there  its  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  in  July,  1880.  On  the  other  hand,  the  church 
organized  in  Plymouth,  England,  on  the  30th  of  March,  1630,  which  came  directly  over  in  a 
body  and  settled  in  Dorchester, — that  church  celebrated  its  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anni- 
versary, March  30,  1880,  in  the  town  of  Windsor, -Conn.,  because,  as  an  organized  church, 
it  left  Dorchester,  Mass.,  in  the  year  1636,  and  ever  after  made  its  home  in  Windsor.  In  like 
manner  the  church  which  was  organized  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  October,  1632  or  1633,  cele- 
brated its  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  October,  1883.  The 
anniversary  dated  from  the  installation  of  Mr.  Hooker  and  Mr.  Stone  at  Newtown,  but  the 
church  may  have  been  organized  the  previous  yearv 


26  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

and  prerogatives  of  government  were  lodged  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men, 
and  the  great  body  of  the  common  people  had  little  or  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  The  leaders  of  the  colony  were  men  who  had  felt  themselves 
oppressed  in  Old  England,  and  they  had  betaken  themselves  to  New 
England  that  they  might  breathe  the  air  of  liberty.  But  it  is  hard  for 
men  anywhere  to  clear  themselves  at  once  from  the  ideas  and  entangle- 
ments of  the  past.  Even  when  they  think  they  are  taking  great  strides 
toward  freedom  and  justice,  they  will  yet  be  held  fast  in  the  chains  of 
old  routine  and  habit.  Governor  John  Winthrop  and  the  chief  men 
associated  with  him  were  noble  and  just  men,  and  meant  to  do  that 
which  was  good  and  right.  But  they  had  been  trained  under  a  kingly 
and  aristocratic  system,  where  full-grown  men,  belonging  to  the  com- 
mon orders,  were  thought  to  have  no  more  to  do  with  government  in 
matters  of  Church  or  State  than  little  children  in  their  nurses'  arms. 
That  idea,  embodied  virtually  in  the  constitution  of  the  Massachusetts 
company,  was  taken  over  in  1630  from  Old  England  to  New  England. 
Some  seeds  of  liberty  were  there  which  would  work  themselves  out  into 
fruit  in  the  course  of  time  ;  but  in  the  years  1630-1636  the  government 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  the  final  resort,  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
governor  of  the  colony  and  a  few  men  closely  associated  with  him.  The 
people  might  be  amused  with  the  idea  that  they  were  making  and  execut- 
ing the  laws.  The^v  might  be  permitted  to  play  with  the  outward  forms. 
But  the  governor,  magistrates,  and  ministers  settled  all  questions  at  the 
last. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  in  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  system  none  but  church-members  were  even  called  freemen.  None 
but  church-members  were  permitted  even  the  pleasure  of  playing  with 
the  machinery  of  government.  It  was  not  so  down  in  the  Plymouth 
Colony,  where  the  Pilgrims  had  had  their  government  in  working  order 
for  several  years  before  the  Puritans  came  to  the  Massachusetts  Bay. 
In  Plymouth  all  men,  whether  church-members  or  not,  except  such  as 
were  scandalous  and  corrupt  in  their  lives,  were  made  voters,  and  shared 
in  the  privileges  of  the  free  government.  We  say  were  made  voters,  for 
then  nowhere  would  a  man  be  considered  a  voter  simply  by  reaching 
a  certain  age  and  paying  a  poll-tax.  He  would  be  received  on  his  mer- 
its. But  at  Plymouth  there  was  no  system  in  operation  which  would 
exclude  a  man  of  fair  character  from  membership  in  the  body  politic. 
Miles  Standish  was  not  a  church-member,  and  was  sometimes  a  little 
rough  and  stormy  in  his  ways  ;  but  he  could  be  a  voter  and  a  magistrate 
under  the  Plymouth  system. 

In  a  government  like  that  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  common  men 
felt  themselves  oppressed.  They  were  interfered  with  in  a  thousand 
little  matters  which  were  of  a  private  nature,  and  which  might  best 
have  been  left  to  themselves.  Mr.  Hooker,  when  he  came  to  Boston 
and  Cambridge  in  1633,  found  the  common  people  throughout  these 
new  plantations  suffering  under  this  sense  of  oppression.  There  was  a 
meddlesome  interference  with  them  as  individuals  which  warred  with 
their  self-respect  and  disturbed  their  peace.  They  felt  this  the  more 
keenly  in  New  England  than  they  would  have  felt  it  in  Old  England. 
They  had  come  out  here  as  from  a  land  of  bondage  to  a  place  of  liberty  ; 
and  to  encounter  in  this  their  new  home  all  the  annoyances  which  they 
before  had,  was  a  special  aggravation. 


THE  RIVER  TOWNS   PLANTED.  27 

Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  the  first  of  the  eighteen  assistants  named  in 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  charter,  came  over  with  Governor  Winthrop 
in  1630,  and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Watertown  people.  In  1631  he 
returned  to  England,  leaving  his  affairs  here  in  the  hands  of  his  two 
sons.  From  England  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  ministers  of  Boston  from 
which  we  make  one  or  two  brief  extracts.     He  says  :  — 

"  It  doth  not  a  little  grieve  my  spirit  to  hear  what  sadd  things  are  reported 
daily  of  your  tyranny  and  persecutions  in  New  England,  as  that  you  fyne,  whip, 
and  imprison  men  for  their  consciences.  .  .  .  These  rigid  ways  have  laid  you 
very  low  in  the  hearts  of  the  saynts.  We  pray  for  you  and  wish  you  prosperitie 
euery  way  and  not  to  practice  these  courses  in  the  wilderness  which  you  went  so 
far  to  preuent.  ...  I  hope  you  do  not  assume  to  yourselves  infallibilitie  of  judg- 
ment, when  the  most  learned  of  the  apostles  confessed  he  knew  but  in  part  and 
saw  but  darkly  as  through  a  glass.  Oh  that  all  those  who  are  brethren,  though 
yet  they  cannot  think  and  speak  the  same  things,  might  be  of  one  accord  in  the 
Lord.  .  .  .  The  Lord  give  you  meeke  and  humble  spirits  and  to  striue  so  much 
for  uniformitie  as  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 

Mr.  Hooker  held  very  different  ideas  from  those  current  among  the 
magistrates  in  the  Bay  touching  the  rights  of  the  individual  man  and 
his  place  in  a  human  government.  His  philosophy,  instead  of  starting 
with  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  lords  and  flowing  downward, 
started  with  the  individual  and  worked  outward  and  upward.  We 
have,  fortunately,  the  abstracts  of  two  sermons  or  lectures  preached  by 
Mr.  Hooker  in  connection  with  the  making  and  putting  into  operation 
of  the  original  constitution  for  the  government  of  the  Connecticut 
Colony  in  1638  and  1639.  These  abstracts  were  preserved  in  short- 
hand in  a  manuscript  note-book  of  Mr.  Henry  Wolcott,  of  Windsor.1 
These  heads  of  discourse  are  brief,  but  full  of  meaning.  They  mark 
the  strength  and  amplitude  of  Mr.  Hooker's  mind.  The  first  sermon 
or  lecture  was  given  on  Thursday,  May  31,  1638,  from  the  text, 
Deut.  i.  13,  "Take  you  wise  men,  and  understanding,  and  known  among 
your  tribes,  and  I  will  make  them  rulers  over  you."  ..."  Captains 
over  thousands,  and  captains  over  hundreds  —  over  fifties  —  over 
tens,"  etc. 

"  Doctrine  I.  That  the  choice  of  public  magistrates  belongs  unto  the  people, 
by  God's  own  allowance. 

"  II.  The  privilege  of  election,  which  belongs  to  the  people,  therefore  must 
not  be  exercised  according  to  their  humours,  but  according  to  the  blessed  will 
and  law  of  God. 

"  III.  They  who  have  power  to  appoint  officers  and  magistrates,  it  is  in 
their  power  also  to  set  the  bounds  and  limitations  of  the  power  and  place  unto 
which  they  call  them. 

"Reasons:  1.  Because  the  foundation  of  authority  is  laid  firstly  in  the  free 
consent  of  the  people. 

"  2.  Because,  by  a  free  choice,  the  hearts  of  the  people  will  be  more  inclined 
to  the  love  of  the  persons  [chosen],  and  more  ready  to  yield  [obedience]." 

No  one  could  desire  a  broader  charter  for  individual  right  and  pub- 
lic liberty.     He  might  have  drawn  another  lesson  from  the  text  which 

1  They  were  deciphered  by  Dr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  and  are  printed  in  the  first  volume 
of  the  Collections  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  pp.  20,  21. 


28  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

he  chose,  and  very  likely  he  did  draw  it,  for  we  have  only  the  briefest 
outline  of  the  discourse,  namely,  that  God  said  unto  the  people,  "  Choose 
and  /  will  make  them  rulers,"  etc. ;  bringing  democratic  liberty  into 
harmony  with  that  great  Bible  truth,  "there  is  no  power  but  of  God; 
for  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God." 

The  same  broad  and  catholic  principles  of  government  are  an- 
nounced in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Hooker  to  Governor  John  Winthrop,  Sr. 
from  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  quote  by  and  by  for  another  pur- 
pose. The  passage  we  are  now  to  copy  may  be  found  in  Vol.  I.  of  the 
''  Collections  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,"  (p.  12)  : 

"  It 's  also  a  truth  that  counsel  should  he  sought  of  counsellors  ;  but  the 
question  yet  is,  who  those  should  be.  Reserving  smaller  matters,  which  fall  in 
occasionally,  in  common  course,  to  a  lower  counsel,  in  matters  of  greater  conse- 
quence, which  concern  the  common  good,  a  general  counsel  chosen  by  all,  to 
transact  businesses  which  concern  all,  I  conceive,  under  favour,  most  suitable  to 
rule  and  most  safe  for  relief  of  the  whole." 

Such  unmistakable  language  as  this  clearly  shows  the  bent  of 
Mr.  Hooker's  thinking  on  matters  pertaining  to  government.  It  is 
apparent  that  he  would  have  been  much  more  at  home  down  in  the 
Plymouth  plantation,  in  company  with  such  men  as  Governor  William 
Bradford,  Edward  Winslow,  and  Elder  William  Brewster,  than  he  was 
among  the  leading  magistrates  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  with  their 
high  prerogatives  That  Mr.  Hooker  had  this  democratic  tendency  in 
act  as  well  as  in  word,  is  made  evident  by  the  shape  given,  in  this  respect, 
to  the  Connecticut  Colony  when  it  came  to  be  politically  organized.  It 
seems  to  be  generally  conceded  that  no  one  man  did  more  than  he  to 
give  form  to  the  early  institutions  of  Connecticut.  Governor  John 
Haynes  and  other  of  the  chief  men  of  Connecticut  seem  to  have  been 
in  sympathy  and  harmony  with  him ;  but  he  stands  as  the  leading 
thinker  in  matters  civil,  as  in  matters  ecclesiastical  and  theological. 
When  society  here  had  been  organized,  and  the  government  set  in 
motion,  it  was  found  that  the  body  of  freemen,  as  a  rule,  embraced  all 
persons  who  should  be  recommended  and  presented  by  the  major  vote 
of  their  several  towns. 

Connecticut,  then,  was  born,  at  the  time  it  was,  largely  out  of  the 
public  dissatisfactions  prevailing  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  ;  while  at 
the  same  time  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  rulers  and  managers  of 
affairs  in  that  jurisdiction  were  trying  sincerely,  according  to  the  light 
they  had,  to  establish  a  commonwealth  for  the  honor  of  God  and  the 
welfare  of  men.  And  in  spite  of  all  the  early  hindrances  encountered, 
it  grew  at  length  into  the  grandest  proportions  of  freedom  and  public 
intelligence. 


THE   EXODUS   AND   THE   FIRST   COMERS.  29 


II.     THE  EXODUS   AND   THE  FIRST  COMERS. 

In  what  precedes  many  things  have  been  said,  incidentally,  touching 
the  going*  out  of  the  people  from  the  settlements  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay,  to  plant  the  first  towns  in  the  Connecticut  valley.  But  it  will 
not  be  amiss  if  we  consider,  in  more  minute  detail,  the  order  and  man- 
ner of  their  going.  In  looking  back  over  those  early  years,  we  are 
apt  to  think  of  this  movement  as  having  taken  place  in  solid  bodies, 
and  at  about  one  and  the  same  time.  On  the  other  hand,  what  may 
fairly  be  called  the  "  Exodus  "  was  fragmentary,  and  stretched  itself, 
as  a  whole,  over  several  years.  It  has  been  previously  suggested  that 
more  was  known  at  an  early  date  among  the  people  of  the  Bay  about 
the  Connecticut  valley  than  might  at  first  be  supposed.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  the  people  of  Plymouth  had  been  on  these  shores  ten 
years  before  Governor  Winthrop  and  his  company  arrived ;  and  what- 
ever knowledge  the  Plymouth  people  had  of  New  England,  its  previous 
history,  its  rivers,  lakes,  and  mountains,  the  Indian  tribes  inhabiting  it, 
etc.,  would  be  naturally  communicated  in  one  way  and  another  to  their 
Puritan  brethren  in  the  Bay. 

But  there  had  been  passings  to  and  fro  directly  between  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  and  the  valley  in  those  early  years.  Governor  Winthrop, 
in  his  Journal,  under  date  of  April  4,  1631,  says  :  — 

"  Wahgiimacut,  a  sachem  upon  the  River  Quonehtacut,  which  lies  west  of 
Xaragancet,  came  to  the  Governour  at  Boston,  with  John  Sagamore  and  Jack 
Straw  (an  Indian  who  had  lived  in  England  and  had  served  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
and  was  now  turned  Indian  again),  and  divers  of  their  sannops,  and  brought 
a  letter  to  the  governour  from  Mr.  Endecott  to  this  effect  :  that  the  said  Wah- 
giimacut was  very  desirous  to  have  some  Englishmen  to  come  plant  in  his  coun- 
try, and  offered  to  find  them  corn,  and  give  them  yearly  eighty  skins  of  heaver, 
and  that  the  country  was  very  fruitful,  etc.,  and  wished  that  there  might  be  two 
men  sent  with  him  to  see  the  country.  The  Governour  entertained  them  at 
dinner,  but  would  send  none  with  him.  He  discovered  after,  that  the  said  saga- 
more is  a  very  treacherous  man,  and  at  war  with  the  Pekoath  (a  far  greater  saga- 
more).    His  country  is  not  above  five  days'  journey  from  us  by  land." 

The  Pekoath  was  the  chief  of  the  Pequods,  and  it  was  nothing  very 
treacherous  or  wicked  in  Wahgiimacut  if  he  did  want  the  English, 
with  their  weapons  of  war  and  greater  power,  to  come  into  his  coun- 
try to  serve  as  a  shelter  against  that  cruel  and  warlike  tribe.  The 
reference  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  is  interesting.  When  Raleigh's  ships 
were  going  back  and  forth  in  the  ineffectual  attempt  to  plant"  a  colony 
in  Virginia,  1685-1691,  they  carried  quite  a  number  of  natives  to  Eng- 
land. It  must  have  been  more  than  forty  years  before,  that  this  Jack 
Straw  went  to  England,  probably  as  a  youth,  but  meanwhile  had  be- 
come a  man  well  advanced.  Although  Governor  Winthrop  and  his 
associates  concluded  not  to  give  ear  to  this  request,  yet  as  this  Indian 
deputation  came  with  an  interpreter,  they  must  have  communicated 
much  information,  then  fresh  and  new,  about  New  England's  chief 
river  and  the  lands  bordering  upon  it.  The  Indians  then  made  a 
like  application  to  the  men  of  the  Plymouth  Colony,  and  they  were 


30  MEMORIAL    HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

much  more  inclined  to  listen  to  it.  At  that  time  and  in  that  wilderness 
land  all  such  business  as  this  had  to  move  slowly.  But  Governor 
Winthrop,  under  date  of  July  12,  1633,  records  as  follows :  — 

"  Mr.  Edward  Winslow,  governour  of  Plimouth,  and  Mr.  Bradford  came  into 
the  Bay  and  went  away  the  18th.  They  came  partly  to  confer  about  joining  in 
a  trade  to  Connecticut,  for  beaver  and  liemp.  There  was  a  motion  to  set  up  a 
trading-house  there,  to  prevent  the  Dutch,  who  were  about  to  build  one  ;  but  in 
regard  the  place  was  not  fit  for  plantation,  there  being  three  or  four  thousand 
warlike  Indians,  and  the  river  not  to  be  gone  into  but  by  small  pinnaces,  having 
a  bar  affording  but  six  feet  at  high  water,  and  for  that  no  vessels  can  get  in  for 
seven  months  in  the  year,  partly  by  reason  of  the  ice,  and  then  the  violent 
stream,  etc.,  we  thought  not  fit  to  meddle  with  it."  1 

Mr.  Winslow  was  Governor  of  Plymouth  that  year,  because  Mr. 
Bradford  so  desired  (the  hitter  serving  as  governor  more  than  thirty 
years  in  all).  These  two  men,  of  high  character,  seem  to  have  been  at 
Boston  six  days  partly  on  this  business,  but  their  visit  was  unsuccess- 
ful. The  reasons  urged  against  their  proposition  (as  Mr.  Savage,  the 
editor  of  Winthrop,  admits)  "  look  more  like  pretexts  than  real  mo- 
tives." And,  he  adds,  "  some  disingenuousness,  I  fear,  may  be  imputed 
to  [the  Massachusetts]  council."  The  whole  matter  was  dismissed  in 
a  way  that  seems  wanting  in  courtesy.  "  We  thought  not  fit  to  meddle 
with  it."  The  settlements  were  rich  and  strong  in  the  Massachusetts 
Bay,  and  the  Separatists  down  at  Plymouth  were  rather  poor  and  hum- 
ble people,  and  the  Massachusetts  men  preferred  not  to  be  mixed  up 
with  them.  Governor  Winslow  and  Governor  Bradford  went  back  to 
Plymouth,  and  the  Plymouth  people  decided  to  undertake  alone  the  en- 
terprise which  they  had  asked  the  men  of  Massachusetts  to  share. 

Though  the  Massachusetts  leaders  thought  not  "  fit  to  meddle  with 
it,"  they  did  begin  to  meddle  with  it,  in  their  way,  almost  as  soon  as 
the  Plymouth  governors  were  gone  home.  It  happened  about  the  be- 
ginning of  September,  1633,  that  "  John  Oldham,  and  three  with  him, 
went  overland  to  Connecticut,  to  trade."  "  About  ten  clays  before 
this  time,  a  bark  was  set  forth  to  Connecticut  and  those  parts,  to 
trade."  2 

If  this  had  been  a  simple  private  enterprise  of  John  Oldham  and  his 
three  companions,  we  should  not  probably  have  found  his  name,  in  this 
connection,  in  Winthrop' s  Journal.  John  Oldham  was  a  strange  char- 
acter, a  man  of  considerable  ability,  but  a  restless  and  roving  adven- 
turer, who  came  to  Plymouth  as  early  as  1623,  and  had  already  passed 
through  a  variety  of  fortunes.  He  had  been  ignominiously  expelled  from 
Plymouth  in  1624,  and  had  lived  some  time  at  Nantasket.  He  had  now 
joined  himself  to  the  Watertown  settlement  in  the  Bay,  where  land  had 
been  granted  him,  and  where  he  was  employed,  to  some  extent,  in  an 
official  capacity.  No  man  in  the  Bay  was  more  fit,  by  his  knowledge 
of  the  Indians,  to  be  sent  on  such  an  exploring  expedition  than  he. 
Governor  Winthrop  tells  us,  "  The  sachem  used  them  kindly  and  gave 
them  some  beaver.  They  brought  of  the  hemp  which  grows  there  in 
great  abundance,  and  is  much  better  than  the  English."  3 

1  Winthrop,  vol.  i.  p.  105.  2  Ibid.,  p.  Ill  ;  under  date  of  Sept.  4. 

3  John  Oldham,  after  all  his  wanderings  and  exposures,  was  killed  by  the  Indians  of  Block 
Island  in  1636,  and  his  death  was  made  one  of  the  pretexts  for  the  war  against  the  Pequots. 


THE  EXODUS  AND   THE   FIRST   COMERS.  31 

Not  only  was  there  this  overland  expedition  to  the  valley,  but  under 
date  of  Oct.  2,  1633,  Winthrop  (i.  112)  records  the  return  of 

"  The  bark  Blessing  [Winthrop' s  vessel,  the  "  Blessing  of  the  Bay  "],  which  was 
sent  to  the  southward.  .  .  .  She  had  been  at  an  island  over  against  Connecticut, 
called  Long  Island.  .  .  .  They  were  also  in  the  river  of  Connecticut,  which  is 
barred  at  the  entrance,  so  as  they  could  not  find  above  one  fathom  of  water." 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  both  this  voyage  by  sea  and  Old- 
ham's overland  journey  were  brought  about  by  the  proposition  from 
Plymouth  which  the  Massachusetts  men  "  did  not  think  fit  to  meddle 
with."  John  Oldham  went  back  to  his  home  in  Watertown.  This  was 
in  the  fall  of  1633.  Winter  was  coming  on,  and  nothing  more  could  be 
done  until  another  season.1  Oldham  and  his  three  companions  seem  to 
have  been  the  first  white  men  that  had  gone  across  the  country  from 
the  Bay  to  the  river.  Winthrop  tells  us  that  "  he  lodged  at  Indian 
towns  all  the  way."  He  had  been  in  the  country  now  ten  years,  and 
he  knew  the  ways  and  habits  of  the  Indians,  and  probably  had  acquired 
their  language  sufficiently  to  hold  some  converse  with  them. 

The  winter  of  1633-1634  passed  by,2  and  in  the  summer  of  1634 
Oldham  led  out  a  company  of  settlers,  or  adventurers,  and  planted  them 
at  Pyquaug,  afterward  called  Watertown,  and  a  little  later  Wethers- 
field.  It  is  generally  believed  that  this  company  reached  their  destina- 
tion late  in  the  summer  or  in  the  early  autumn  ;  and  from  the  fact  that 
they  chose  Pyquaug,  it  is  supposed  that  this  place  had  been  reached  by 
Oldham  and  his  three  companions  the  previous  year. 

One  thing  here  is  worthy  of  particular  notice.  The  movement  of 
this  company  of  men  under  Oldham  was  before  leave  had  been  granted 
to  the  people  of  any  of  the  Massachusetts  towns  to  remove.  It  was 
Sept.  4,  1634,  when  the  long  debate  began,  which  decided  that  the  in- 
habitants of  Newtowne  might  remove ;  and  it  was  not  until  May  6, 
1635,  that  the  like  privilege  was  given  to  the  Watertown  company. 
But  these  adventurers  with  Oldham  were  on  the  ground  in  Connecticut 
before  even  the  Newtowne  people  — the  first  to  obtain  this  privilege  —  had 
received  any  such  permission.  This  was  not,  then,  a  part  of  that  larger 
movement  of  disaffected  people  upon  which  we  have  so  fully  dwelt. 

1  At  least  one  other  overland  journey  from  the  Bay  to  the  Connecticut  Valley  was  made  in 
the  autumn  of  1633.  Under  date  of  Jan.  20,  1634,  Winthrop  mentions  the  return  of  "Hall 
and  the  two  others,  who  went  to  Connecticut  November  3,  .  .  .  having  lost  themselves  and 
endured  much  misery.  They  informed  us  that  the  small-pox  was  gone  as  far  as  any  In- 
dian plantation  was  known  to  the  west,  and  much  people  dead  of  it,  by  reason  whereof  they 
could  have  no  trade."  (i.  123).  Hubbard  (Hist,  of  N.  England,  cxxviii.)  says  that  "Sam- 
uel Hall,  who  died  lately  about  Maiden,  in  Essex,  scil.  1680,"  went  with  Oldham  on  his 
first  journey  to  Connecticut,  "in  the  beginning  of  September."  Samuel  Hall  was  of  Ipswich, 
in  1636,  afterwards  returned  home  to  England,  and  died  1680,  "at  Langford,  near  Maiden,  in 
Essex." — Savage,  Genealogical  Dictionary. 

2  The  report  made  by  Hall  and  his  companions  was  not  such  as  to  encourage  new  adven- 
turers, even  if  the  season  had  been  more  favorable  for  undertaking  so  long  and  perilous  a  journey. 
"This  winter  was  very  mild,  .  .  .  but  oft  snows,  and  great  :  one  snow,  the  15th  [of  Febru- 
ary] was  near  two  feet  deep  all  over,"  in  Massachusetts.  {Winthrop,  i.  124).  There  was  no 
hope  of  success  in  trade  with  the  Indians,  for  hunting  and  trapping  were  suspended  by  the 
terrible  ravages  of  the  small-pox  among  the  Connecticut  tribes.  The  few  who  were  not 
stricken  by  disease  had  enough  to  do  in  tending  the  sick  and  burying  the  dead.  Of  "about 
a  thousand  of  them"  who  occupied  a  palisadoed  fort,  near  the  Plymouth  trading-house 
( Windsor),  ' '  above  900,  and  a  halfe  of  them  dyed,  and  many  of  them  did  rott  above  ground  for 
want  of  buriall."  —  Bradford,  History  of  Plymouth,  p.  325. 


32  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Can  we  well  doubt  that  it  was  a  scheme  to  counterbalance  the  enter- 
prise of  the  Plymouth  men  in  planting  their  trading-house  at  Windsor 
the  year  before  ? 

Another  little  record  in  Winthrop's  Journal  for  July,  1634,  is  worthy 
of  attention :  — 

"  Six  of  Newtown  went  in  the  Blessing  (being  bound  to  the  Dutch  planta- 
tion), to  discover  the  Connecticut  river,  intending  to  remove  their  town  thither." 

It  is  certainly  a  curious  circumstance  that  a  place  "  not  fit  for  plan- 
tation, there  being  three  or  four  thousand  warlike  Indians,  and  the  river 
not  to  be  gone  into  but  by  small  pinnaces,"  etc.,  should  so  soon  after 
become  a  place  of  such  commanding  interest.  There  was  then,  in 
1634,  at  Windsor  a  small  company  of  white  men  from  Plymouth,  and 
a  larger  company  (eighteen  or  twenty)  at  Wethersfield.  Whether  the 
six  Newtowne  men  who  sailed  that  summer  "  to  discover  the  Connecticut 
river,"  which  the  Dutch  had  discovered  in  1614,  returned  home  or  tar- 
ried in  those  parts  we  do  not  discover. 

During  the  year  1635  other  important  steps  were  taken  in  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Connecticut  valley,  though  as  yet  the  whole  enterprise  was  in 
its  incipient  stages.  The  little  company  which  John  Oldham  led  to 
Wethersfield  in  1634  managed  to  live  through  the  winter  of  1634-35, 
and  early  in  the  summer  following  received  quite  a  large  accession 
from  their  old  friends  and  neighbors  at  Watertown,  Mass.  Francis  S. 
Drake,  in  his  "  History  of  Middlesex  County,  Mass."  (vol.  ii.  p.  440), 
says :  — 

"  Wethersfield,  the  oldest  town  in  Connecticut,  received  from  Watertown  its 
first  considerable  emigration  in  1634.  Pyquaug,  its  Indian  name,  was  changed 
in  1635  to  Watertown,  and  later  to  Wethersfield.  .  .  .  May  29,  1635,  the  follow- 
ing Watertown  men  went  to  Wethersfield  :  Rev.  Richard  Denton,  Robert  Rey- 
nolds, John  Strickland,  Jonas  Weede,  Rev.  John  Sherman,  Robert  Coe,  and 
Andrew  Ward." 

Others,  doubtless,  were  in  this  company,  but  these  are  mentioned  as 
leading  men.  It  has  already  been  stated  in  a  previous  section  that 
Watertown  did  not  send  an  embodied  church  to  Connecticut ;  but  in  this 
company  of  1635  were  two  ministers,  both  men  of  good  ability,  and 
one  of  them,  John  Sherman,  eminent  for  his  mathematical  knowledge 
as  well  as  his  pulpit  power. 

About  this  time  came  another  accession  to  the  population  of  the 
valley,  from  a  somewhat  unexpected  quarter.  June  16,  1635,  "  A 
bark  of  forty  tons  arrived  [at  Boston],  set  forth  with  twenty  servants, 
by  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  to  go  plant  at  Connecticut."  1 

Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  was  in  England,  and  this  company  sent  by 
him,  under  Mr.  Francis  Stiles,  came  up  the/river  and  landed  at  Wind- 
sor, where  they  found  the  little  company  of  Plymouth  men  already 
established.  This  new  arrival  complicated  matters  at  Windsor.  The 
men  from  Plymouth,  braving  the  opposition  of  the  Dutch,  had  already 
built  their  trading-house  at  this  point.  But  the  problem  at  Windsor 
was  still  more  complicated   by  the   arrival   of   a  pioneer   party  from 

1  Winthrop,  vol.  i.  p.  161. 


THE   EXODUS   AND   THE   FIRST   COMERS.  33 

Dorchester,  Mass.,  to  break  ground  and  prepare  for  the  coming  soon 
after  of  the  main  body  of  emigrants  from  that  plantation. 

Palfrey  quietly  remarks,1  "  It  was  not  by  Dutchmen  that  the  Plymouth 
people  were  to  be  dispossessed  of  Connecticut ; "  and  if  he  had  gone  on 
and  completed  the  sentence  as  it  lay  in  his  mind,  he  would  probably  have 
added,  "  but  by  their  English  brethren  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay." 

It  was  the  1st  of  July,  1635,  when  this  company  from  England 
landed  in  the  Connecticut  valley.  The  Dorchester  pioneers,  who  had 
been  there  a  few  days  before,  had  gone  up  the  river  prospecting,  to  see 
if  they  could  look  out  any  better  place.2  They  did  not  discover  any  that 
suited  them  so  well,  and  they  returned  to  find  those  new-comers  on  the 
ground.  Here  were  three  companies  of  English-born  people  putting  in 
their  claims  for  the  Windsor  territory  ;  and  the  Plymouth  people,  who 
had  bought  the  land  of  the  Indians,  being  few  in  number,  felt  compelled 
at  last  to  make  such  terms  as  they  could,  and  retire,  —  not  at  once,  for 
there  was  a  long  complication  over  this  business  before  matters  were 
finally  adjusted. 

John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  came  over  to  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  1632, 
and  in  May  of  that  year  was  chosen  one  of  the  assistants.  In  1633, 
with  a  little  company  of  twelve  he  "  set  up  a  trucking  house  up 
Merrimac  river,"  at  Agawam,  thereby  laying  the  foundations  of  the 
town  of  Ipswich.  He  went  back  to  England  in  1634,  and  in  October, 
1635,  returned  at  the  head  of  a  new  enterprise  looking  to  the  occupation 
of  the  Connecticut  River  and  the  settlement  of  Connecticut. 

Palfrey  says  :  — 

' '  When  John  Winthrop  the  younger  came  to  Xew  England  the  second  time, 
he  bore  a  commission  from  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  Lord  Brooke,  and  others  their 
associates,  patentees  of  Connecticut.  It  constituted  him  Governor  of  that  terri- 
tory for  a  year,  with  instructions  to  build  a  fort  at  the  river's  mouth,  for  which 
he  came  provided  with  men  and  ammunition,  and  with  two  thousand  pounds  in 
money.  .  .  .  He  was  to  take  care  that  all  settlers  for  the  present  should  '  plant 
themselves  either  at  the  harbor  or  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,'  for  the  purpose 
of  more  effective  mutual  defence."3 

Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  was  one  of  these  patentees,  and  it  was  in 
aid  of  this  general  enterprise  that  he  had  sent  forward  the  vessel  and 
passengers  already  noticed.  This  company  held,  or  supposed  they  held, 
the  territory  of  Connecticut,  through  powers  conferred  by  Robert  Rich, 
Earl  of  Warwick,  president  of  the  council  for  New  England.  George 
Fenwick  was  one  of  these  patentees.  He  came  over  as  their  represent- 
ative, in  1636,  to  take  charge  of  the  Saybrook  plantation.  He  contin- 
ued to  manage  and  govern  the  same  until,  in  1644,  the  whole  was  sold 
to  the  colony  of  Connecticut. 

Governor  Winthrop  notices  in  his  Journal  the  arrival  of  his  son  at 
the  head  of  this  new  interest.     Under  date  of  October,  1635,  he  says : 

1  History  of  New  England,  vol.  i.  p.  340. 

2  July  6,  1635,  Jonathan  Brewster,  who  was  the  manager  of  the  Plymouth  trading-house 
at  "Matianuck"  (Windsor),  wrote  to  Governor  Bradford,  "  Ye  Massachusetts  men  are  coming 
almost  dayly,  some  hy  water  &  some  by  land,  who  are  not  yet  determined  where  to  setle,  though 
some  have  a  great  mind  to  ye  place  we  are  upon,  and  which  was  last  bought.  ...  I  shall  doe 
what  I  can  to  withstand  them.  I  hope  they  will  hear  reason,"  etc.  —Bradford,  History  of 
Plymouth,  p.  339. 

3  History  of  New  England,  vol.  i.  p.  450. 

vol.  I.  —  3. 


34  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

"  There  came  also  John  Winthrop,  the  younger,  with  commission  from  the 
Lord  Say,  Lord  Brook,  and  divers  other  great  persons  in  England,  to  begin  a 
plantation  at  Connecticut  and  to  be  governour  there." 

One  other  item  may  complete  the  record  of  1635  so  far  as  concerns 
the  laying  of  foundations  for  the  settlement  of  the  Connecticut  valley. 
Late  in  the  autumn  an  overland  company  set  out  from  the  Massachu- 
setts Bay  and  fell  on  troublous  times.  Winthrop  wrote,  under  date  of 
Oct.  15, 1635  :  — 

"  About  sixty  men,  Avomen,  and  little  children  went  by  land  towards  Con- 
necticut with  their  cows,  horses,  and  swine,  and  after  a  tedious  and  difficult 
journey  arrived  safe  there." 

A  month  later  (November  26)  he  has  the  following  entry,  which 
refers  to  the  same  journey  :  — 

"  There  came  twelve  men  from  Connecticut.  They  had  been  ten  days  upon 
their  journey,  and  had  lost  one  of  their  company,  drowned  in  the  ice  by  the  way  ; 
and  had  been  all  starved,  but  that,  by  God's  providence,  they  lighted  upon  an 
Indian  wigwam.     Connecticut  river  was  frozen  up  the  15th  of  this  month." 

The  cold  weather  set  in  early  that  season,  but  it  was  not  wise  to 
defer  such  a  journey,  with  women  and  children  and  cattle,  to  so  late  a 
period.  As  it  proved,  the  goods  which  they  sent  round  by  water  were 
frozen  in  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and,  being  without  supplies,  the 
twelve  men  seem  to  have  struggled  back  through  the  forests  so  that  the 
burden  of  support  might  be  loss  upon  those  who  were  already  there. 
If  the  men  from  Plymouth  and  Stiles's  party  had  not  taken  care  of  these 
unfortunate  travellers  during  the  long  cold  winter  of  1635-36,  their 
condition  would  have  been  most  pitiable.  The  Plymouth  men  showed 
themselves  better  Christians  at  that  time  than  did  the  men  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

In  many  histories  and  records  this  company  of  sixty,  that  came 
across  the  country  in  the  fall  of  1635,  is  regarded  as  an  advance  party 
of  Mr.  Hooker's  colony.  Sometimes  /they  are  spoken  of  as  if  they 
came  from  different  places  in  the  Baly,  and  were  destined  to  differ- 
ent places  in  the  valley.  But  the  fact  was,  probably,  that  they  were 
simply  Dorchester  people,  the  advance  party  from  that  town,  and 
that  others  would  follow  in  the  spring.  That  the  great  body  of  the 
Dorchester  people  had  not  removed  to  Connecticut  in  that  autumnal 
emigration  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  Edward  Winslow,  of  Plymouth, 
went  to  Dorchester,  after' that  migration,  to  effect  a  settlement  in  the 
wrong  done  about  the  lands  at  Windsor.  Governor  Winthrop  mentions 
this  under  date  of  Feb.  24,  1635-6  :  — 

"  Mr.  Winslow  of  Plimouth  came  to  treat  with  those  of  Dorchester  about 
their  land  in  Connecticut,  which  they  had  taken  from  them."  1 

1  For  an  account  of  the  "  differences  betweene  those  of  Dorchester  plantation  and  them 
[of  Plymouth],"  and  how,  at  last,  "  was  ve  controversie  ended,  but  the  unkindnes  not  so  soone 
forgotten,"  see  Bradford's  "History  of  Plymouth,"  pp.  338-342.  "They  of  New-towne  dealt 
more  fairly,  desireing  only  what  they  [of  Plymouth]  could  conveniently  spare  from  a  compe- 
tancie  reserved  for  a  plantation,  for  themselves  ;  which  made  [us]  the  more  carefull  to  procure 
a  moyety  for  them,  in  this  agreement  &  distribution."  —  History  of  Plymouth,  p.  342. 


THE  EXODUS  AND  THE  FIRST  COMERS.  35 

They  came  to  Dorchester  because  the  leaders  and  responsible  agents 
of  the  Windsor  plantation  were  still  there.  On  the  3d  of  that  month 
of  February,  John  Maverick,  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  congregation, 
died  at  Dorchester ;  and  the  prevailing  impression  is  that  Mr.  John 
Warham,  the  other  minister,  was  also  there  through  the  winter,  though 
some  think  he  went  on  to  Windsor  in  that  autumnal  journey.  No 
movement  to  organize  another  church  in  Dorchester  was  made  until 
1636,  and  it  is  altogether  probable  that  Mr.  Warham  did  not  leave 
Dorchester  before  the  spring  of  1636,  but  stayed  there  and  ministered 
as  before.  So  ends  the  year  1635  ;  and  we  have  endeavored  to  trace  the 
various  enterprises  and  events  of  that  year  which  had  a  bearing  on  the 
question  of  the  settlement  of  the  valley. 

The  year  1636  may  be  regarded  as  the  special  year  of  the  going  out 
of  the  children  of  Israel.  By  that  time  the  plans  for  removal  had  been 
well  matured.  The  incipient  stages  had  been  passed.  The  pioneers 
were  already  on  the  ground.  The  story  of  the  journey  of  Thomas 
Hooker  and  his  congregation  from  Newtowne  to  Hartford  in  the  early 
summer  of  1636  used  to  be  (and  we  trust  is  now)  well  known  to 
every  intelligent  boy  and  girl  in  Connecticut.  There  is  something 
picturesque  and  romantic  in  the  narrative,  however  simply  it  may  be 
related.  Art,  too,  has  lent  its  aid  to  heighten  the  effect.  The  season 
of  the  year,  the  solitude  and  loneliness  of  the  forests,  the  high  aim 
and  object  of  the  journey,  —  these  and  other  conspiring  influences  tend 
to  invest  that  early  emigration  westward  with  a  genuine  romance. 
Palfrey  (vol.  i.  p.  453)  tells  the  story  thus  :  — 

"  The  plan  of  removal  being  thus  facilitated  [by  arrangements  for  the  sale  of 
their  houses  and  lands  in  Newtown],  Hooker  and  Stone,  with  the  members  of  their 
congregation,  a  hundred  in  number,  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages,  took  advantage 
of  the  pleasantest  of  the  New  England  months  to  make  their  emigration.  They 
directed  their  march  by  the  compass,  aided  by  such  local  information  as  they  had 
derived  from  previous  explorers.  Their  herd  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  cattle,  which 
grazed  as  they  journeyed,  supplied  them  with  milk.  They  hewed  their  difficult 
way  through  thickets,  and  their  simple  engineering  bridged  with  felled  trees  the 
streams  which  could  not  be  forded.  Tents  and  wagons  protected  them  from  the 
rain,  and  sheltered  their  sleep.  Early  berries,  which  grew  along  the  Avay,  fur- 
nished an  agreeable  variety  in  their  diet,  and  the  fragrance  of  summer  flowers 
and  the  songs  of  innumerable  birds  beguiled  the  weariness  of  their  pilgrimage. 
It  occupied  a  fortnight,  though  the  distance  was  scarcely  a  hundred  miles.  Mrs. 
Hooker,  by  reason  of  illness,  was  conveyed  in  a  horse-litter. 

"  At  a  spot  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Connecticut,  just  north  of  the  Dutch 
stockade  [at  Dutch  Point],  the  caravan  reached  its  journey's  end.  The  little  set- 
tlements above  and  below  were  enlarged  in  the  course  of  the  summer  by  the  emi- 
gration of  the  churches  of  Dorchester  and  Watertown." 

By  the  closing  words  of  this  paragraph  it  is  very  evident  that  Dr. 
Palfrey  had  the  same  idea  that  has  already  been  expressed ;  namely, 
that  Windsor  and  Wethersfield  received  large  accessions  in  the  year 
1636,  —  larger  than  all  they  had  received  previously.  Only,  as  before 
suggested,  Watertown  did  not  send  an  organized  and  embodied  church, 
as  Newtowne  and  Dorchester  had  done.  If  any  will  turn  to  the  eccle- 
siastical record  of  Connecticut,  he  will  find  that  the  old  Wethersfield 
church  dates  from  1635,  and  was  formed  on  the  Connecticut  soil. 


36  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Of  the  companies  coming  into  the  valley  from  Dorchester  and  Water- 
town  during  the  year  1636  we  have  little  information.  Whether  they 
came  in  considerable  bodies  or  in  little  and  scattered  companies  we  do 
not  know.  But  we  have  the  evidence  that  they  came  in  some  way  dur- 
ing that  year,  else  there  could  not  have  been  so  many  white  men  in  the 
valley  to  undertake  the  Pequot  war  in  the  spring  of  1637.  About  the 
1st  of  May,  1637,  a  levy  of  ninety  able-bodied  men  was  made  from 
the  three  plantations  on  the  river,  which  must  have  taken  from  one 
third  to  one  half  of  all  the  men  in  the  three  plantations.  Palfrey 
speaks  of  the  "  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  the  Connecticut  towns  " 
at  the  opening  of  the  Pequot  war  in  1637.  If  there  were  so  many,  and 
his  conjecture  cannot  be  far  from  the  truth,  many  of  them  must  have 
come  in  in  times  and  ways  to  us  unknown.  Such  as  were  here  must 
have  been  here  before  the  end  of  1636.  When  on  the  1st  of  May,  1637, 
it  was  "  ordered  that  there  shalbe  an  offensiue  warr  ag*  the  Pcquoitt," 
there  had  been  no  time  for  land  journeys,  that  year,  from  the  Bay. 
These  expeditions,  as  a  rule,  were  not  made  so  early  in  the  season. 

By  the  levy  then  made  it  is  shown  that  Hartford  had  more  popula- 
tion than  either  of  the  other  two  settlements,  and  Wethersfield  the  least. 
The  settlement  at  Wethersfield,  however,  had  just  passed  through  a 
horrible  slaughter,  which  had  taken  off  several  of  their  men,  and  in  the 
state  of  fear  and  distress  there  prevailing  it  may  be  that  plantation  was 
not  called  to  furnish  its  full  quota  according  to  its  numbers. 

We  may  properly  end  the  present  chapter  at  this  point,  though,  of 
course,  people  continued  for  several  years  to  come  in  considerable  num- 
bers from  the  Massachusetts  Bay  to  the  valley  towns.  Some  who  would 
have  come  at  the  first  were  compelled  to  delay  until  they  could  more 
satisfactorily  settle  their  affairs.  New-comers  from  England  sought 
these  Connecticut  towns  as  the  places  to  which  their  kindred  and  friends 
had  gone ;  but  the  real  transfer  which  originated  and  established  the 
colony  of  Connecticut  took  place  in  1635  and  1636. 


CHAPTER    III. 

SECTION    I. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT. 

BY    THE    REV.  INCREASE    N.    TARBOX,  D.D. 

The    Foundations    of    State    and    Church.  —  The   First   Constitution  :   the 
Fundamentals  of  January,  1639. 

~YT7~HEN  the  emigrants  from  the  Massachusetts  Bay  found  them- 
VV  selves,  in  the  summer  of  1636,  here  in  the  valley  of  the  Con- 
necticut, they  were  under  a  governmental  arrangement  provided 
for  them  by  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts.  At  the  session  of  March 
3,  1635-6,  "  A  Comission  [was]  graunted  to  seuerall  Prsons  to  governe 
the  People  att  Coiiecticott  for  the  Space  of  a  Yeare  nowe  nexte  comeing, 
an  Exemplincacon  whereof  ensueth  "  :  — 

"  Whereas,  vpon  some  reason  &  grounds,  there  are  to  remoue  from  this  or  Com- 
onwealth  &,  body  of  the  Mattachusetts  in  America  dyvrs  of  or  loveing  ffriends, 
neighbrs,  freemen  &  members  of  Newe  Towne,  Dorchesf,  Waterton,  &  other 
places,  whoe  are  resolved  to  transplant  themselues  &  their  estates  vnto  the  Ryver 
of  Conecticott,  there  to  reside  &  inhabite,  &  to  that  end  dyvrs  are  there  already,  & 
dyvrs  others  shortly  to  goe,  wee,  in  this  present  Court  assembled,  on  the  behalfe  of 
or  said  memb",  &  John  Winthrop,  Junr,  Esqr,  Goumir,  appoyncted  by  certaine 
noble  personages  &  men  of  quallitie  interesed  in  the  said  ryvr,  wch  are  yet  in 
England,  on  their  behalfe,  have  had  a  serious  consideracon  there[on],  &  thinke  it 
meete  that  where  there  are  a  people  to  sitt  down  &  cohabite,  there  will  followe, 
vpon  occacon,  some  cause  of  difference,  as  also  dyvers  misdeameanrs,  wch  will  re- 
quire a  speedy  redresse  ;  &  in  regard  of  the  distance  of  place,  this  state  and  gou- 
ernm1  cannot  take  notice  of  the  same  as  to  apply  timely  reined}',  or  to  dispence 
equall  iustice  to  them  &  their  affaires,  as  may  be  desired ;  &  in  regard  the  said 
noble  peonages  and  men  of  qualitie  haue  something  ingaged  themselues  &  their 
estates  in  the  planting  of  the  said  ryver,  &  by  vertue  of  a  pattent,  doe  require 
jurisdiction  of  the  said  place  &  people,  &  neither  the  mindes  of  the  said  peonages 
(they  being  writ  vnto)  are  as  yet  knowen,  nor  any  manner  of  gouernmt  is  yet 
agreed  on,  &  there  being  a  necessitie,  as  aforesaid,  that  some  present  gouernm1  may 
be  obserued,  therefore  thinke  meete,  &  soe  order,  that  Roger  Ludlowe,  Esqr,  Will1" 
Pinchon,  Esqr,  John  Steele,  Willm  Swaine,  Henry  Smyth,  Willm  Phelps,  Willm 
Westwood,  &  Andrewe  Ward,  or  the  greaf  pte  of  them,  shall  haue  full  power  & 
aucthoritie  to  hear  &.  determine  in  a  judiciall  way,  by  witnesses  vpon  oathe  exam- 
ine, wth[in]  the  said  plantacon,  all  those  differences  wch  may  arise  betweene  partie 
&  partie,  as  also,  vpon  misdemeanr,  to  inflicte  corporall  punishm*  or  imprisonm1, 
to  ffine  &  levj'-  the  same  if  occacon  soe  require,  to  make  &  decree  such  orders,  for 
the  present,  that  may  be  for  the  peaceable  &  quiett  ordering  the  affaires  of  the 


38  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

said  plantacon,  both  in  tradeing,  planting,  building,  lotts,  millitarie  dissipline, 
defensiue  warr  (if  neede  soe  require),  as  shall  best  conduce  to  the  publique  goode 
of  the  same,  &  that  the  said  Roger  Ludlowe  \_and  others],  or  the  greater  prte  of 
them,  shall  haue  power,  vnder  the  great'  parte  of  their  ha[ncls],  att  a  day  or  dayes 
by  them  appoyncted,  vpon  convenient  not[ice],  to  convent  the  said  inhabitants 
of  the  said  townes  to  any  convenient  place  that  they  shall  thinke  meete,  in  a 
legall  &  open  manner,  by  way  of  Court,  to  proceede  in  execute  [ing]  the  power 
&  aucthoritie  aforesaide,  &  in  case  of  present  necessitie,  two  of  them  ioyneing  to- 
geather,  to  inflict  corporal!  punishm'  vpon  any  offender  if  they  see  good  &  war- 
rantable ground  soe  to  doe  ;  provided,  alwayes,  that  this  comissiqn  shall  not  extende 
any  longer  time  than  one  whole  yeare  from  the  date  thereof,  &  in  the  meane  time 
it  shalbe  lawfull  for  this  Court  to  recall  the  said  presents  if  they  see  cause,  and  if  soe 
be  there  may  be  a  mutuall  and  setled  gouenim'  condiscended  vnto  by  &  with  the 
good  likeing  &  consent  of  the  saide  noble  personages,  or  their  agents,  the  inhab- 
itants, &  this  comonwealthe ;  provided,  also,  that  this  may  not  be  any  p?*eiudice 
to  the  interest  of  those  noble  personages  in  the  sd  ryver  &  confines  thereof  within 
their  seuerall  lymitts."1 

This  frame  of  provisional  government  was  probably  agreeable  to  all 
parties  concerned.  It  could  not  mean  very  much ;  for,  whatever  doubts 
may  have  existed  at  an  earlier  date,  it  must  have  been  generally  under- 
stood by  that  time  that  Massachusetts  had  no  jurisdiction  over  that  part 
of  the  Connecticut  valley  where  Windsor,  Hartford,  and  Wethersfield 
were  planted.  It  will  be  noticed  in  this  Commission,  granted  to  eight 
persons,  that  the  name  of  William  Pynchon,  the  founder  of  Springfield, 
is  included.  He  led  out,  in  this  summer  of  1G36,  his  little  colony  from 
Roxbury  and  planted  it  at  Agawam.  There  were  several  places  in  New 
England  called  by  this  Indian  name.  The  territory  in  Essex  County, 
Mass.,  on  which  now  stand  the  towns  of  Ipswich,  Newbury,  and  others, 
was  one  of  the  ancient  Agawams.  There  was  an  Agawam  2  also  in 
Wareham,  Mass.  Mr.  Pynchon  and  his  little  company  took  possession 
of  the  Agawam  of  the  Connecticut  valley  in  1636,  and  in  this  temporary 
government  it  was  thought  best  to  link  these,  four  river  settlements  in 
one  system  for  one  year.  During  the  year  while  this  provisional  gov- 
ernment lasted  there  seems  to  have  been  no  objection  raised  to  it  from 
any  quarter.  Six  public  courts  were  held  during  the  year,  four  of  them 
at  Newe  Towne  (Hartford),  one  at  Dorchester  (Windsor),  and  one  at 
Watertowne  (Wethersfield).  The  eight  commissioners  were  never  all 
of  them  in  attendance  at  one  of  these  meetings.  Mr.  Pynchon,  of  Aga- 
wam, was  present  only  once  during  the  year.  In  two  of  the  meetings 
only  five  commissioners,  "  the  major  prte  of  them,"  performed  the  service. 
The  last  meeting  of  the  commissioners'  court  before  the  expiration  of 
their  year  of  office  was  held  Feb.  21, 1637.  At  this  meeting  the  first  step 
was  taken  in  the  way  of  untying  themselves  from  their  Massachusetts 
belongings :  — 

y 

1  Massachusetts  Records,  vol.  i.  pp.  170,  171. 

2  This  Indian  name  denotes  a  tract  of  low  meadow,  or  "low  land"  in  general.  Captain 
John  Smith  (1616)  mentions  the  harbor  of  Augoam  (he  elsewhere  wrote  Aggowam),  now  Ips- 
wich, and  the  "  plaine  marish  ground,  fit  for  pasture  or  salt  ponds,"  covering  half  of  Plum 
Island  opposite  (Generall  Historie,  1624,  p.  214).  "Wood,  in  "  New  England's  Prospect," 
writes  the  name  of  this  place  Agowamme  and  Igoivam,  which  "  aboundeth  with  .  .  .  great 
Meads  and  Marshes  and  plaine  plowing  grounds,"  etc.  (p.  48).  Agawam  brook,  in  Wareham, 
flows  "throug  flat  meadows"  (2  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  iv.  286).  In  an  Indian  deed  to  John 
Pynchon  and  others,  of  Springfield,  July  15,  1636,  the  Indian  name  is  written  Aguam.  The 
Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Winthrop,  1638,  made  it  Agaam.  —  En. 


ORGANIZATION    OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  39 

"  It  is  ordered  that  the  plantation  no  we  called  Newtowne  shalbe  called  & 
named  by  the  name  of  Harteford  Towne,  likewise  the  plantacon  now  called  Water- 
towne  shalbe  called  &  named  Wythersfeild." 

"  It  is  ordered  y*  the  plantacon  called  Dorchester  shallbee  called  Windsor." 

"Wythersfeild"  is  spelled  "  Weathersfeild  "  in  the  same  record;  and 
that  is  the  way  it  was  more  commonly  spelled  in  the  early  colonial 
days,  though  sometimes,  as  now,  "  Wethersfield." 

[By  common  consent  apparently,  possibly  by  election,  but  more 
probably  for  the  discharge  of  the  last  work  of  their  commission,  "  to 
convent  the  .  .  .  inhabitants  of  the  said  townes  to  any  convenient 
place  ...  in  a  legall  &  open  manner,  by  way  of  Court,"  etc.,  six  of 
the  eight  commissioners  (Mr.  Pynchon  and  Mr.  Smyth  of  Agawam  not 
being  present)  held  a  Court  at  Hartford,  March  28,  1637.  The  com- 
mission, by  its  own  limitation,  could  "  not  extend  any  longer  time  than 
one  whole  year  from  the  date  thereof,"  and  —  from  its  place  in  the 
Massachusetts  record  (though  the  commission  as  recorded  bears  no 
date)  —  it  seems  to  have  been  issued  by  the  Massachusetts  General 
Court  of  March  3,  1636.] 

Just  as  the  commissioners  continued  in  office  after  the  expiration  of 
their  year,  so  Agawam,  which  had  been  linked  to  the  three  towns  below, 
continued  on  for  a  time  in  this  same  connection,  and  Mr.  Pynchon 
occasionally  attended  as  a  magistrate  at  the  General  Court.  Agawam, 
though  it  sent  no  men  to  the  Pequot  War  in  1637,  was  assessed  for, 
and  apparently  did  bear,  its  portion  of  the  expenses,  as  if  its  part  and 
portion  had  been  with  the  three  towns  below. 

["  The  first  day  of  May,  1637,"  a  "  General  Court "  met  at  Hartford ; 
and  this  was,  so  far  as  the  records  show,  the  first  general  court  held  in 
the  colony.  The  towns  —  except  Agawam  (Springfield)  —  were  repre- 
sented each  by  two  magistrates,  assistants,  or  commissioners  (the  title 
of  these  "magistrates"  was  not  fixed  before  the  Constitution  of  1638- 
39),  and  by  three  deputies,  here  called  "  Committees."  An  election  by 
the  people  must  have  been  made  between  March  28  and  May  1 ;  but  of 
this  election  there  is  no  mention  in  the  records.  The  "  upper  house  " 
—  as  we  may  call  it  by  anticipation — included  five  of  the  six  com- 
missioners of  1636-1637,  the  sixth,  Mr.  (Thomas)  Welles,  taking  the 
place  of  Mr.  William  Westwood,  of  the  original  commission.  The 
colony  records  of  this  period  of  transition  from  a  provisional  to  an 
established  constitutional  government  are  manifestly  incomplete ;  but 
the  original  commission  had  expired  by  limitation,  and  Mr.  Welles 
could  not  have  been  substituted  for  Mr.  Westwood  except  by  the  choice 
of  his  town  (Hartford)  or  by  a  general  election.] 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Court,  Feb.  9, 1637-38,  after  the  transaction  of 
some  business  about  the  price  of  corn  and  the  payment  of  the  expenses 
of  the  recent  war  (Agawam  being  included  in  this  levy  of  money),  the 
following  important  vote  was  passed  before  adjournment :  — 

"It  is  ordered  y*  the  generall  Conrte  now  in  being  shall  be  dissolued  and 
there  is  noe  more  attendance  of  the  members  thereof  to  be  expected  except  they 
be  newly  Chosen  in  the  next  generall  Courte." 

At  this  point,  probably,  a  full  end  was  made  of  all  the  real  or  seem- 
ing authority  that  had  been  lodged  in  the  commission  granted  (with 


40  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

the  assent  of  the  emigrants)  by  the  Massachusetts  Court  in  March, 
1636,  for  the  government  of  the  river  towns.  The  people  of  Connecticut 
found  themselves  far  away  out  of  the  Massachusetts  jurisdiction,  and 
they  proposed  to  set  up  for  themselves  an  order  of  government  which 
should  be  their  own  as  fully  as  that  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  was  its 
own.  Both  colonies  owed  allegiance  in  a  general  way  to  the  mother 
country,  but  meant  to  be  independent  of  each  other  in  all  the  ordi- 
nary details  of  civil  rule,  while  they  might  be  united  for  mutual  sys- 
tem and  defence.  The  Connecticut  towns  had  already  chosen  their 
representatives  in  a  General  Court.  By  this  action  the  members  so 
elected  limited  their  own  tenure  of  office. 

Another  election  must  have  been  made  sometime  between  Feb- 
ruary 9  and  March  8 ;  for  the  new  Court  came  together  on  that  day, 
and  Mr.  Pynchon  was  in  attendance,  showing  that  Agawam  still 
inclined  to  be  counted  in  the  same  category  with  the  Connecticut 
towns,  and  sent  her  commissioner  to  the  Hartford  Court  as  before. 
Through  the  year  1638  (as  we  now  reckon  years)  Agawam  walked  in 
this  companionship,  and  apparently  regarded  herself  as  practically  a 
member  of  the  Little  River  confederacy.  But  on  the  14th  day  of  Janu- 
ary, 1638-9,  "  the  inhabitants  and  residents  of  Windsor,  Harteford,  and 
Wethersfield  "  adopted  by  their  votes  a  frame  of  government,  and  asso- 
ciated and  conjoined  themselves  "  to  be  as  one  Publike  State  or  Coin- 
on  welth."  The  eleven  "  fundamental  orders  "  by  which  this  union  was 
established  —  with  their  preamble  — present  "the  first  example  in  his- 
tory of  a  written  constitution,  —  a  distinct  organic  law,  constituting  a 
government  and  defining  its  powers."  1  The  Pilgrims  had  made  their 
simple  compact  in  few  words  in  the  cabin  of  the  "  Mayflower."  The 
Massachusetts  Company  had  brought  with  them  from  England  a  char- 
ter giving  certain  rights  and  prerogatives  over  a  described  amount  of 
territory.  But  this  constitution  defined  the  laws,  rules,  and  regulations 
of  a  government  created  by  the  people  and  existing  for  the  people. 
It  opens  as  follows  :  — 

"  Forasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased  the  Allmighty  God,  by  the  wise  disposition 
of  his  diuyiie  pruidence  so  to  Order  and  dispose  of  things,  that  we  the  Inhabitants 
and  Residents  of  Windsor,  Harteford  and  Wethersfield  are  now  cohabiting  and 
dwelling  in  and  vppon  the  Eiver  of  Conectecotte  and  the  Lands  thereunto  ad- 
joyneing ;  And  well  knowing  where  a  people  are  gathered  together  the  word  of 
God  requires  that  to  mayntayne  the  peace  and  vnion  of  such  a  people  there 
should  be  an  orderly  and  decent  Gouerment  established  according  to  God,  to  or- 
der and  dispose  of  the  affayres  of  the  people  at  all  seasons  as  occation  shall  re- 
quire :  doe  therefore  assotiate  and  conioyne  our  selues  to  be  as  one  Publike  State 
or  Cofnonwelth ;  and  doe,  for  our  selues  and  our  Successors  and  such  as  shall  be 
adioyned  to  vs  att  any  tyme  hereafter,  enter  into  Combination  and  Confederation 
togather,  to  mayntayne  and  prsearue  the  liberty  and  purity  of  the  gospell  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  wch  we  now  prfesse,  as  also  the  discipline  of  the  Churches  wch  accord- 
ing to  the  truth  of  the  said  gospell  is  now  practised  amongts  vs ;  As  also  in  or 
Ciuell  Affaires  to  be  guided  and  gouerned  according  to  such  Lawes,  Eules,  Orders 
and  decrees  as  shall  be  made,  ordered,  &  decreed,  as  followeth." 

[It  is  not  necessary  to  introduce  here  the  eleven  fundamental 
"  orders  "  which  follow  this  preamble  and  declaration.     They  may  be 

1  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon. 


ORGANIZATION   OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  41 

found,  in  full,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Colony  Records  (pp.  21-25). ! 
The  tenth  order  vests  in  the  General  Courts,  composed  of  the  magis- 
trates elected  by  the  freemen  and  the  deputies  chosen  by  the.  several 
towns,  "  the  supreme  power  of  the  Commonwealth,"  and  "  they  only 
shall  have  power  to  make  laws  or  repeal  them,  to  grant  levies,  to  admit 
of  freemen,"  etc.] 

It  will  be  noticed  that  we  have  now  reached  a  point  where  Agawam 
drops  out.  The  paragraph  which  next  precedes  the  record  of  this  Con- 
stitution, and  ends  the  record  of  the  General  Court  of  April  5,  1638, 
reads  thus :  — 

"  It  is  ordered  that  none  shall  trade  in  this  Riuer  w*11  the  Indians  for  beau' 
[beaver],  but  those  that  are  hereafter  named  (vizt)  :  For  Agawam,  Mr.  Pyncheon  ; 
for  Windsor,  Mr.  Ludlowe,  Mr.  Hull ;  for  Harteford,  Mr.  Whytinge,  Tho.  Staun- 
ton ;  Wythersfeild,  Geo.  Hubberd  &  Rich.  Lawes ; "  etc. 

Here  Agawam  appears  as  co-partner,  but  appears  so  no  longer.2  The 
Connecticut  Colony  stands  alone,  self-governed,  with  its  three  towns. 

On  the  11th  of  April,  1639,  came  the  First  General  Meeting  of  the 
Freemen,  under  the  Constitution,  for  the  election  of  Magistrates,  when 
John  Haynes,  who  had  been  Governor  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in 
1635,  was  now  chosen  the  first  Governor  of  the  Connecticut  Colony. 
Mr.  Roger  Ludlowe,  of  Windsor,  was  chosen  deputy-governor.  The 
magistrates  were  Mr.  George  Wyllys,  Mr.  Edward  Hopkins,  Mr.  Thomas 
Welles,  Mr.  John  Webster,  Mr.  William  Phelps. 

Mr.  Edward  Hopkins  was  chosen  secretary,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Welles 
treasurer. 

Twelve  deputies  or  representatives  had  been  chosen,  four  from  each 
town,  and  so  the  constitutional  government  of  Connecticut  was  set  in 
motion. 

We  have  before  spoken  of  the  freedom  of  suffrage  in  early  Connecti- 
cut as  contrasted  with  that  which  prevailed  in  Massachusetts.  The 
first  passage  in  the  Colonial  Records  which  attempts  to  fix  the  law  on 
this  point  may  be  found  in  vol.  i.  p.  96 :  — 

"  Whereas  in  the  fundamentall  Order  y*  is  said  (that  such  who  haue  taken 
the  oath  of  tidellity  and  are  admitted  inhabitants)  shall  be  alowed  as  quallified 

1  A  good  abstract  of  them  is  given  in  Dr.  B.  Trumbull's  "  History  of  Connecticut," 
vol.  i.  pp.  100-103,  and  they  are  printed  in  full  in  his  Appendix,  pp.  498-502.  — Ed. 

2  The  discovery  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker's  letter  to  Governor  "VVinthrop,  written  in  the 
autumn  or  early  winter  of  1638  (published,  1860,  in  the  Conn.  Historical  Society's  Collec- 
tions, vol.  i.  pp.  3-15)  has  enabled  us  to  supply  an  important  omission  in  the  Colony  Records. 
Nothing  was  previously  known  to  historians  concerning  the  constitution  of  government  in 
Connecticut  between  the  expiration  of  the  Massachusetts  commission  in  March,  1637,  and  the 
adoption  of  the  Fundamental  Laws,  in  January,  1639.  The  records  show  the  proceedings  of  a 
General  Court  at  Hartford,  April  5,  1638,  composed  of  magistrates  and  committees  ;  but  noth- 
ing is  said  of  their  election,  or  of  any  delegation  of  authority  by  the  freemen.  At  this  court 
the  names  of  Mr.  Pynchon  and  Mr.  Smith  (of  Agawam)  appear  on  the  list  of  magistrates,  and 
those  of  Mr.  Moxam  and  Mr.  Jehu  Burr  (both  of  Agawam)  with  the  committees  or  deputies. 
"At  the  time  of  election,"  wrote  Mr.  Hooker,  in  the  letter  above  mentioned,  "the  committees 
from  the  town  of  Agaam  came  in  with  other  towns,  and  chose  their  magistrates,  installed  them 
into  their  government,  took  oath  of  them  for  the  execution  of  justice  according  to  God,  and 
engaged  themselves  to  submit  to  their  government  and  the  execution  of  justice  by  their  means 
and  dispensed  by  the  authority  which  they  put  upon  them,  by  choice."  To  this  General  Court, 
probably,  was  intrusted  the  work  of  framing  the  first  constitution  ;  and  Mr.  Hooker's  sermon 
(elsewhere  quoted)  of  May  31,  1638,  may  have  been  delivered  before  an  adjourned  session  of 
this  Court,  and  "was  apparently  designed  to  lead  the  way  to  the  general  recognition  of  the 
great  truths  soon  to  be  incorporated  in  the  Fundamental  Laws."  —  Ed. 


42  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

for  chuseing  of  Deputyes,  The  Court  declares  their  judgement,  that  such  only 
shall  he  counted  admitted  inhabitants,  who  are  admitted  by  a  generall  voate  of 
the  major  prte  of  the  Towne  that  receaueth  them." 

No  one  ought  to  desire  any  system  more  nearly  approaching  univer- 
sal suffrage  (for  men)  than  that.  In  this  infant  Commonwealth,  where 
the  great  desire  was  to  increase  and  grow,  if  any  man  was  so  bad  that 
a  major  part  of  the  voters  in  a  town  would  not  admit  him  as  an  inhab- 
itant, surely  he  ought  not  to  be  a  voter.  The  temptation  manifestly 
would  be  to  make  voting  almost  too  easy  under  this  rule.  Some  evi- 
dently crept  in  from  time  to  time  that  were  not  wanted.  So  in  1656 
the  law  was  changed  to  the  following  form :  — 

"The  Court  doth  order  that  those  that  shall  hereafter  bee  made  free  shall  haue 
an  affirmative  certificate  under  the  hands  of  all  or  a  major  part  of  the  deputies 
in  their  seueral  towns  of  their  peaceable  and  honest  conversation,  and  those  and 
only  those  of  them  wchthe  Gen1.  Court  shall  approue  shall  bee  made  free  men."  1 

This  fixed  a  check  upon  the  too  easy  compliance  of  a  given  town  ;2 
but  the  system  was  still  one  of  broad  general  suffrage  like  that  of  the 
Plymouth  Colony,  but  was  unlike  that  of  the  Massachusetts  or  the  New 
Haven  Colonies.  Palfrey  says  of  this  organization  of  government  in 
Connecticut :  — 

"  Containing  no  recognition  whatever  of  any  external  authority  on  either  side 
of  the  ocean,  it  provided  that  all  persons  should  be  freemen  who  should  be  ad- 
mitted as  such  by  the  freemen  of  the  towns  and  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
Commonwealth.  .  .  .  The  whole  constitution  was  that  of  an  independent  state. 
It  continued  in  force,  with  very  little  alteration,  a  hundred  and  eighty  years,  se- 
curing throughout  that  period  a  degree  of  social  order  and  happiness  such  as  is 
rarely  the  fruit  of  civil  institutions."  3 

We  desire  again  to  call  special  attention  to  the  peculiar  character 
of  early  Connecticut,  in  that  the  beginning  of  everything  which  after- 
ward made  the  State  was  from  these  three  little  settlements  in  the  Con- 
necticut valley.  They  grew  out  of  no  government  before  existing. 
They  were  native  and  original.  They  rose  into  being  out  of  the  wants 
and  the  rights  of  individual  men  standing  in  the  presence  of  God,  just 
as  the  early  Congregational  Church  rose  into  being  wherever  there  was 
a  little  company  of  believers  needing  for  their  growth  and  education  to 
be  so  organized. 

We  desire  now  to  introduce  a  chapter  of  history  very  unlike  the  pages 
over  which  we  have  been  passing.  During  the  three  years  and  more 
since  the  little  colonies  came  out  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  many  things 
had  been  transpiring  there  and  here,  and  some  of  them  such  as  can 
hardly  be  believed  in  this  remote  generation.  But  the  evidence  of  their 
truth  cannot  well  be  resisted.  y 

The  following  are  extracts  from  a  letter  sent  by  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker 
to  Governor  John  Winthrop,  Sr.,  in  the  autumn  of  1638.     It  was  dis- 

1  Colonial  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  290. 

2  This,  however,  bears  only  on  the  admission  of  freemen.  It  does  not  take  from  the  towns 
the  right  to  admit  'inhabitants,  by  a  major  vote,  or  from  inhabitants  so  admitted  the  right  of 
voting  in  town  affairs  and  in  the  choice  of  deputies,  etc.  —  Ed. 

8  "History  of  New  England,"  vol.  i.  pp.  536,  537. 


ORGANIZATION   OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  43 

covered  by  Dr.  J.  H.  Trumbull  in  the  office  of  the  Massachusetts  Secre- 
tary of  State,  where  it  had  long  remained  unopened  and  unknown.  It 
will  be  found  a  remarkable  letter.  We  omit  the  opening,  and  shall  copy 
only  a  small  portion  comparatively  of  the  whole  epistle,  which  may  be 
found  unbroken  in  the  first  volume  of  the  "  Collections  of  the  Connecticut 
Historical  Society,"  pp.  1-18 :  — 

"  I  confess  my  head  grows  gray  and  my  eyes  dim,  and  yet  I  am  sometimes 
in  the  watch-tower :  and  if  the  quaere  be,  Watchman,  what  in  the  night,  as  the 
prophet  speaks,  I  shall  tell  you  what  I  have  observed,  and  shall  be  bold  to  leave 
my  complaints  in  your  bosom,  of  what  is  beyond  question,  and  then  I  hope  I 
shall  give  you  a  satisfactory  return  of  what  you  question  in  your  letter. 

"  Before  I  express  my  observations,  I  must  profess,  by  way  of  preface,  that 
what  I  shall  write  are  not  forged  imaginations  and  suppositions  coined  out  of 
men's  conceits,  but  that  which  is  reported  and  cried  openly,  and  carried  by  sea  and 
land  :  secondly,  my  aim  is  not  at  any  person,  nor  intendment  to  charge  any  par- 
ticular, with  you ;  because  it  is  the  common  trade,  that  is  driven  amongst  multi- 
tudes with  you,  and  with  which  the  heads  and  hearts  of  passengers  come  loaded 
hither,  and  that  with  grief  and  wonderment ;  and  the  conclusion  which  is  aimed 
at  from  these  reproaches  and  practices  is  this,  that  we  are  a  forlorn  people,  not 
worthy  to  be  succored  with  company  and  so  neither  with  support. 

"  I  will  particularize.  If  inquiry  be,  What  be  the  people  of  Connecticut  1  the 
reply  is,  Alas,  poor  rash-headed  creatures,  they  rushed  themselves  into  a  war  with 
the  heathen ;  and  had  not  we  rescued  them,  at  so  many  hundred  charges,  they 
had  been  utterly  undone.  In  all  which  you  know  there  is  not  a  true  sentence ; 
for  we  did  not  rush  into  the  war ;  and  the  Lord  himself  did  rescue  before  friends. 

"  If,  after  much  search  made  for  the  settling  of  the  people,  and  nothing  suit- 
able found  to  their  desires  but  toward  Connecticut ;  if  yet  then  they  will  needs 
go  from  the  Bay,  go  any  whither,  be  any  where,  choose  any  place,  any  patent,  — 
Narragansett,  Plymouth,  —  only  go  not  to  Connecticut.     We  hear  and  bear. 

"  Immediately  after  the  winter,  because  there  was  likelihood  multitudes  would 
come  over,  and  lest  any  should  desire  to  come  hither,  then  there  is  a  lamentable 
cry  raised,  that  all  their  cows  at  Connecticut  are  dead,  and  that  I  had  lost  nine 
and  only  one  left,  and  that  was  not  likely  to  live  (when  I  never  had  but  eight, 
and  they  never  did  better  than  last  winter).     We  hear  still  and  bear. 

"  And  lest  haply  some  men  should  be  encouraged  to  come  because  of  my 
subsistence  or  continuance  here,  then  the  rumour  is  noised  that  I  am  weary  of 
my  station ;  or,  if  I  did  know  whither  to  go,  or  my  people  what  way  to  take,  we 
would  never  abide  :  whereas  such  impudent  forgery  is  scant  found  in  hell ;  for 
I  profess  I  know  not  a  member  in  my  congregation  but  sits  down  well  apayd 
with  his  portion,  and  for  myself,  I  have  said  what  now  I  write,  if  I  was  to  choose 
I  would  be  where  I  am. 

"  But  notwithstanding  all  this  the  matter  is  not  sure,  and  there  is  some  fear 
that  some  men  will  come  toward  Connecticut  when  ships  come  over  ;  either  some 
have  related  the  nature  of  the  place,  or  some  friends  invited  them ;  and  there- 
fore care  must  be  taken,  and  is  by  this  generation,  as  soon  as  any  ship  arrives,  that 
persons  haste  presently  to  board  them,  and  when  no  occasion  is  offered  or  ques- 
tion propounded  for  Connecticut,  then  their  pity  to  their  countrymen  is  such  that 
they  cannot  but  speak  the  truth  :  Alas,  do  you  think  to  go  to  Connecticut  1 
Why,  do  you  long  to  be  undone  1  If  you  do  not,  bless  yourself  from  thence  ; 
their  upland  will  bear  no  corn,  their  meadows  nothing  but  weeds,  and  the  peo- 
ple are  almost  all  starved.     Still  we  hear  and  bear. 

"  But  may  be  these  sudden  expressions  will  be  taken  as  words  of  course,  and 
therefore  vanish  away  when  once  spoken.  Let  it  therefore  be  provided  that  the 
innkeepers  entertain  their  guests  with  invectives  against  Connecticut,  and  those 
are  set  on  with  the  salt,  and  go  off  with  the  voyder.    If  any  hear  and  stay,  then 


44  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

they  be  welcomed ;  but  if  these  reports  cannot  stop  a  man's  proceeding,  from 
making  trial,  they  look  at  him  as  a  Turk,  or  as  a  man  scant  worthy  to  live.  Still 
we  hear  and  bear. 

"  I  suppose  you  are  not  a  stranger  only  in  Israel,  nor  yet  usually  ignorant  of 
these  things,  being  they  are  not  done  in  a  corner  but  in  the  open  streets,  and  not 
by  some  frantic  forlorn  creatures,  or  madmen,  who  know  not  nor  care  what  they 
say ;  but,  before  the  ships  can  come  to  anchor,  whole  boats  are  presently  posted 
out  to  salute  persons,  ordinarily  with  such  relations.  The  daily  expressions  of 
passengers  report  these,  with  much  grief  of  spirit,  and  wonder  such  wretched 
falsehoods  should  be  suffered  amongst  Christians. 

"  That 's  in  New  England  :  but  send  over  a  watch  a  little  into  Old  England  : 
and  go  we  there  to  the  Exchange,  the  very  like  trade  is  driven  by  persons  which 
come  from  you,  as  though  there  was  a  resolved  correspondence  held  in  this  par- 
ticular ;  as  the  master  and  merchant  who  came  this  last  year  to  Sea-brook  Fort 
related,  even  to  my  amazement,  there  is  a  tongue-battle  fought  upon  the  Exchange 
by  all  the  plots  that  can  be  forged  to  keep  passengers  from  coming,  or  to  hinder 
any  from  sending  a  vessel  to  Connecticut,  as  proclaimed  an  utter  impossibility. 

"  Sir,  he  wants  a  nostril,  that  feels  not  and  scents  not  a  schismatical  spirit  in 
such  a  framer  of  falsifying  relations  to  gratify  some  persons  and  satisfy  their  own 
ends. 

"  Do  these  things  argue  brotherly  love?  do  these  issue  from  spirits  that  either 
pity  the  necessities  of  their  brethren  or  would  that  the  work  of  God  should  pros- 
per in  their  hands'?  or  rather  argue  the  quite  contrary.  If  these  be  the  ways  of 
God,  or  that  the  blessing  of  God  do  follow  them,  I  never  preached  God's  ways 
nor  knew  what  belonged  to  them. 

"  I  suppose  these  premises  will  easily  let  any  reasonable  man  see  what  the 
conclusion  must  be  that  men  would  have  to  follow.  The  misery  of  the  men  of 
Connecticut  would  be  marvellous  acceptable  to  such,  and  therefore  there  is  little 
expectation  they  do  desire  their  good,  and  would  procure  it,  who  are  not  willing 
any  good  should  come  to  them,  if  all  the  inventions  of  falsehood  can  prevail. 
Worthy  Sir,  these  are  not  jealousies  which  we  needlessly  raise ;  they  are  realities 
which  passengers  daily  relate,  and  we  hear  and  bear :  and  I  leave  them  in  your 
bosom  ;  only  I  confess  I  count  it  my  duty,  and  I  do  privately  and  publicly  pray 
against  such  wickedness;  and  the  Lord  hath  wont  to  hear  the  prayer  of  the 
despised." 

This  remarkable  language  from  a  man  so  truly  great  as  was  Thomas 
Hooker  shows  that  there  was  a  large  amount  of  human  nature  abroad 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  as  well  as  now,  and  that  too  in  Puritan 
New  England. 

But  in  spite  of  all  hindrances,  in  spite  of  all  enemies  within  and 
without,  by  the  year  1639  four  independent  colonies  were  planted  in 
New  England,  —  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  Haven. 
The  seed-corn  was  in  the  earth  and  the  harvests  were  sure  to  come  in 
due  time. 


y 


CHARACTER  AND  SOCIAL  POSITION  OF    THE  SETTLERS.         45 


SECTION    II. 

CHARACTER  AND  SOCIAL  POSITION  OF  TEE  SETTLERS. 

BY    THE    REV.    INCREASE    N.    TARBOX,    D.D. 

The  leading  people  in  the  four  colonies  planted  between  1620  and 
1640  were  of  such  a  character  that  they  left  their  homes,  to  England's 
great  loss.  Just  as  France,  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
drove  out  a  large  section  of  her  best  middle  class — her  manufacturers, 
artisans,  and  skilled  workmen  —  to  enrich  England,  so  England  herself 
at  an  earlier  period  drove  out  a  multitude  of  her  worthiest  and  ablest 
men  and  women  to  become  the  founders  of  a  New  England  three 
thousand  miles  away. 

In  every  one  of  the  four  colonies  these  choice  men,  able  and  wise, 
were  to  be  found.  But  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  unnatural  that  the 
class  of  emigrants  should  improve  a  little  as  the  years  passed  on. 
More  care  was  taken  not  to  admit  unworthy  persons  into  the  compa- 
nies. Men  of  larger  wealth  and  standing  were  drawn  into  sympathy 
with  the  new  enterprise.  We  think  it  entirely  safe  and  fair  to  say  that 
there  was  more  average  wealth  and  intelligence  among  the  people  who 
settled  the  river  towns,  1635-1637,  or  those  who  settled  New  Haven  in 
1638,  than  among  those  who  planted  Plymouth  in  1620,  Salem  in  1629, 
and  Charlestown,  Dorchester,  and  Watertown  in  1B30.  We  do  not 
claim,  however,  that  the  Puritans  of  the  Bay,  of  Connecticut,  or  of  New 
Haven  had  attained  any  higher  conceptions  of  true  Christian  liberty 
and  brotherhood  than  those  simple-hearted  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth.  In 
this  respect  we  regard  the  latter  as  our  best  models.  But  for  average 
culture,  wealth,  learning,  and  general  intelligence,  we  believe  that  the 
colonies  out  of  which  the  State  of  Connecticut  has  grown  were  in 
some  degree  in  advance  of  the  earlier  ones. 

This  will  appear  more  clearly,  perhaps,  if  we  bring  together  the 
names  of  some  of  the  leading  men  in  the  Connecticut  colony,  most  of 
whom  are  mentioned  particularly  in  biographical  and  genealogical 
sketches  in  other  chapters. 

Thomas  Hooker,  like  many  of  the  early  New  England  clergymen, 
was  a  graduate  of  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge ;  was  a  teacher  and 
lecturer  at  the  University  ;  was  noted  on  both  sides  of  the  water  for 
learning  and  powerful  preaching;  and  was  one  of  the  three  divines 
who  were  invited  to  go  to  England  to  attend  the  Westminster 
Assembly. 

Governor  Winthrop,  of  Massachusetts,  notwithstanding  the  differ- 
ences which  had  occurred  between  him  and  Mr.  Hooker,  bears  this 
grand  and  noble  testimony  to  his  character.  Speaking  of  the  sickness 
prevailing  in  Connecticut  in  1647,  he  says  :  — 

"  But  that  -which  made  the  stroke  more  sensible  and  grievous  both  to  them 
and  all  the  country  was  the  death  of  that  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord,  Mr.  Thomas 


46  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Hooker,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Hartford,  who,  for  piety,  prudence,  wisdom,  zeal, 
learning,  and  what  else  might  make  him  serviceable  in  the  place  and  time  he  lived 
in,  might  be  compared  with  men  of  greatest  note.  And  he  shall  need  no  other 
praise  ;  the  fruits  of  his  labors  in  both  Englands  shall  preserve  an  honorable  and 
happy  remembrance  of  him  forever." 

Rev.  Samuel  Stone  was  also  a  graduate  of  Emmanuel  College.  His 
decision  at  Saybrook,  whereby  he  helped  Captain  Mason  out  of  his 
dilemma  in  the  time  of  the  Pequot  War,  added  to  the  laurels  gained  in 
the  pulpit ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  ecclesiastical  controversies  that  some- 
what tarnished  his  fair  fame  in  his  later  years,  he  was  buried  with 
funeral  honors  that  testified  to  his  high  standing.  Rev.  John  Warham, 
of  Windsor,  came  of  an  ancient  family,  was  college-bred,  and  was  a 
man  of  good  estate.  Of  the  three  clergymen  connected  more  or  less 
intimately  with  the  early  settlement  of  Wethersfield,  Sherman  and 
Denton  were  graduates  of  Cambridge. 

John  Haynes,  the  first  Governor  of  Connecticut,  came  to  America 
in  the  same  ship  with  Mr.  Hooker  in  1633.  He  had  his  residence  at 
Newtown,  and  was  a  member  of  Mr.  Hooker's  congregation.  He  came 
from  Copford  Hall,  Essex,  England,  bringing  with  him  wealth  and 
choice  culture.  He  was  in  the  highest  and  best  sense  a  Christian  gen- 
tleman. He  was  made  Governor  in  the  Massachusetts  Colony  in  1635, 
so  that  his  official  duties  retained  him  for  a  little  time  in  the  Bay  after 
the  removal  of  Mr.  Hooker  and  his  congregation  to  Hartford.  Mr. 
Haynes,  however,  followed  soon  after.  It  may  be  presumed  that  the 
written  constitution  of  Connecticut,  adopted  in  1639,  was  the  work  espe- 
cially of  Mr.  Hooker  and  Mr.  Haynes,  though  others  doubtless  were 
consulted  and  lent  assistance.  Bancroft  describes  Mr.  Haynes  as  a 
man  "  of  large  estate  and  larger  affections  ;  of  heavenly  mind  and  spot- 
less life."  He  was  a  man  to  make  himself  beloved  to  a  remarkable 
degree.  The  people  of  the  infant  colony  elected  him  their  governor  in 
1639,  and  as  he  could  hold  the  office  but  one  year  at  a  time,  they  chose 
him  every  other  year  as  long  as  he  lived.     He  died  March  1,  1654. 

Roger  Ludlow,  of  Windsor,  was  of  good  family,  and  a  brother-in-law 
of  Governor  Endicott,  a  lawyer  by  profession,  holding  various  offices 
in  Massachusetts,  and  after  his  removal  to  Connecticut  becoming 
deputy-governor,  etc.,  and  compiler  of  the  earliest  code  of  laws  in  that 
colony. 

Edward  Hopkins,  the  second  Governor  of  Connecticut,  came  to  these 
shores  in  the  New  Haven  company,  which  reached  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  1637.  He  married  the  daughter  of  the  honored  Theophilus 
Eaton,  first  Governor  of  the  New  Haven  Colony.  After  Mr.  Hopkins 
came  to  Hartford  he  was  chosen  a  magistrate,  and  secretary  of  the 
colony,  in  the  first  election  under  the  written  constitution ;  and  ever 
after,  so  long  as  he  remained  here,  he  was  in  office,  and  in  a  kind  of 
alternate  way  with  Mr.  Haynes  in  respect  to4hc  offices  of  governor  and 
deputy-governor.  In  the  year  1654,  May  18,  at  a  General  Court, 
Mr.  Hopkins  was  governor,  but  against  his  name  is  written  absent. 
He  had  gone  to  England,  never  to  return.  He  had  been  to  England 
before,  since  his  first  coming  over,  on  matters  of  public  and  private 
business.  But  now,  in  1654,  the  Commonwealth  was  in  full  power, 
and  Cromwell  was  at  the  head  of  the  nation.  Mr.  Hopkins  was  made  a 
Member  of  Parliament,  Warden  of  the  Fleet,  etc.     Before  he  could 


CHARACTER  AND  SOCIAL  POSITION  OF  THE  SETTLERS.  47 

shape  his  plans  to  return,  as  he  probably  intended,  he  was  cut  short 
by  death.  He  died  in  London,  in  March,  1657,  leaving  his  large  wealth, 
and  all  his  property  in  New  England,  to  be  devoted  to  the  academical 
and  collegiate  education  of  young  men. 

William  Phelps,  of  Dorchester,  Mass.,  was  one  of  the  eight  commis- 
sioners appointed  to  govern  the  Connecticut  settlements,  including 
Agawam,  one  year.  John  Steele  was  also  one  of  the  eight  commission- 
ers, and  for  some  years  his  name  led  the  list  of  deputies  from  Hartford 
to  the  General  Court.  Thomas  Wells,  another  commissioner,  high 
magistrate,  colonial  treasurer,  deputy-governor,  and  governor,  was  one 
of  the  chief  men  of  Hartford  ;  and  according  to  tradition  had  been  pri- 
vate-secretary to  Lord  Say  and  Sele  before  coming  to  America.  William 
Swayne,  "  gentleman,"  of  Wethersfield,  was  a  commissioner.  William 
Westwood,  of  Hartford,  was  a  commissioner,  constable  of  the  Connec- 
ticut plantation,  and  deputy  to  the  General  Court.  Andrew  Ward,  of 
Wethersfield,  was  another  of  the  eight  commissioners  ;  was  deputy  to 
the  General  Court.  George  Wyllys,  "  affluent  and  large-hearted,"  stood 
second  and  next  to  John  Haynes  on  the  list  of  Hartford  proprietors 
in  1639  ;  and  was  made  one  of  the  higher  magistrates,  deputy-governor, 
and  governor.  William  Whiting  stood  among  the  first  eleven  names 
on  the  list  of  Hartford  proprietors,  and  was  colonial  treasurer  for  six 
years.  John  Mason,  of  Windsor,  maintained  the  high  military  reputa- 
tion brought  to  this  country  ;  was  a  magistrate,  commander-in-chief  of 
the  colony,  deputy-governor,  and  greatly  honored. 

Henry  Wolcott,  of  Windsor,  belonged  to  the  gentry  of  England,  and 
was  of  large  estate.  He  was  deputy  to  the  first  General  Court  under 
the  Constitution.  "  George  Fenwick,  Esq.,"  says  Savage,  in  his  notes 
to  "  Winthrop's  History  of  New  England,"  "  would  surely  deserve  more 
consideration  than  he  has  received  from  the  writers  about  our  country." 
He  was  wealthy  and  of  good  standing  in  England,  being  by  profession  a 
barrister.  His  wife,  Lady  Fenwick,  was  "  probably  the  only  person  ever 
connected  with  the  First  Church  of  Hartford  who  popularly  wore  a  title 
of  English  rank."  Mr.  Fenwick  was  chosen  one  of  the  higher  magis- 
trates of  the  colony  in  1647  and  1648,  and  on  removing  to  England  was 
made  colonel  of  one  of  Cromwell's  regiments.  Matthew  Allyn,  one  of 
the  early  and  larger  proprietors  of  Hartford,  was  in  later  years  among 
the  higher  magistrates  and  the  deputies  to  the  General  Court,  of  which 
he  was  sometimes  moderator.  On  removing  to  Windsor  he  married  Eliz- 
abeth, granddaughter  of  Henry  Wolcott.  Matthew  Grant,  of  Windsor, 
bore  the  honorable  appellation  of  "  the  Recorder,"  and  was  not  only  the 
careful  keeper  of  town  records,  but  also  a  deputy  from  time  to  time. 
Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  though  resident  in  New  England  but  a  short 
time,  fitted  out  the  ship  that  came  up. the  Connecticut  River  to  Windsor 
in  1635  ;  and  by  his  wealth  and  influence,  and  by  his  descendants, 
lodged  his  name  here  for  perpetual  remembrance. 

Lyon  Gardiner,  constructor  and  commander  of  the  fort  at  Saybrook, 
had  been,  to  use  his  own  language,  "  Engineer  and  Master  of  works  of 
Fortifications  in  the  legers  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries." He  purchased  the  island  now  bearing  his  name  and  still  held 
in  entail ;  and  if  he  did  not  himself  wear  the  title  of  "  Lord  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight,"  one  of  his  immediate  descendants  did,  as  a  tombstone  at  East- 
hampton,  Long  Island,  testifies.     John  Webster  was  a  leading  citizen 


48  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

of  Hartford  ;  one  of  the  five  higher  magistrates  in  1639,  holding  office 
until  1655,  when  he  became  deputy-governor  ;  and  after  serving  as 
governor  in  1656,  resuming  his  office  of  high  magistrate  and  holding  it 
until  1659.  William  Goodwin  "  was  prominent  in  all  the  early  trans- 
actions of  the  Hartford  settlement,  a  man  of  large  means  and  great 
influence."  He  was  the  first  and  perhaps  the  only  ruling  elder  of  the 
First  Church,  and  his  name  has  always  been  one  of  dignity  and  honor. 
John  Talcott  was  a  leading  man  in  Hartford  ;  was  for  years  a  magis- 
trate and  deputy,  and  from  1651  to  1659  colonial  treasurer.  John  Hig- 
ginson,  though  belonging  mainly  to  Massachusetts,  was  as  a  young  man 
brought  into  interesting  relations  with  Connecticut ;  was  employed  at 
one  time  as  chaplain  at  the  fort  in  Saybrook ;  and  was  a  teacher  in 
Hartford,  and  while  so  engaged  lived  with  Mr.  Hooker  as  a  student, 
helper  and  scribe.  John  Winthrop  the  younger  surpassed  even  his 
father  in  culture  ;  had  studied  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  had 
travelled  and  mingled  with  learned  men  on  the  Continent.  In  1657, 
having  served  as  a  magistrate  for  some  years,  he  was  chosen  governor 
by  the  people,  though  he  had  borne  the  title  by  commission  since  1635. 
Until  1662  he  was  alternately  governor  and  deputy-governor ;  then 
governor  continuously  until  1676. 

These  colonists  are  crowned  with  additional  honors  through  their 
descendants  immediate  or  remote.  The  son  of  George  Wyllys,  Samuel, 
a  graduate  of  Harvard,  was  an  assistant  thirty  years ;  his  grandson, 
Hezekiah,  was  colonial  secretary  twenty-two  years  ;  his  great-grandson, 
George,  was  colonial  secretary  sixty-one  years,  and  for  over  two  hun- 
dred years  this  family  retained  its  wealth  and  social  prominence. 
John  Webster,  of  Hartford,  was  the  ancestor  of  Noah  Webster.  John 
Talcott's  son,  Major  John,  commanded  the  Connecticut  forces  during 
King  Philip's  War,  and  his  grandson,  Joseph,  was  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut, 1725-1741.  William  Edwards,  of  Hartford,  though  not  per- 
sonally distinguished,  founded  one  of  the  most  notable  families  in  New 
England  ;  was  the  father  of  Richard  Edwards,  one  of  the  most  intelli- 
gent and  valuable  citizens  of  Hartford,  and  ancestor  of  Rev.  Timothy 
Edwards,  of  Windsor,  east  side  ;  of  Jonathan  Edwards ;  and  of  presi- 
dents Dwight  and  Woolsey,  of  Yale.  With  the  possible  exception  of 
Robert  Williams,  of  Roxbury,  Mass.,  he  was  the  ancestor  of  more  New 
England  clergymen  than  any  other  early  settler.  William  Pitkin,  of 
Hartford,  was  conspicuous  and  influential.  The  distinguished  positions 
of  his  sons,  William  and  Ozias,  his  grandsons,  Governor  William  and 
Colonel  John,  his  great-grandsons,  Colonel  William  and  Colonel  George, 
to  go  no  further,  are  related  in  the  chapter  on  East  Hartford.  This 
family  retained  its  prominence  for  over  two  hundred  years.  William 
Pitkin's  sister  Martha  married  Simon  Wolcott,  and  was  ancestress  of 
seven  governors.  From  Andrew  Ward,  of  Wethersfield,  was  descended 
Aaron  Burr  ;  and  Henry  Ward  Beecher  gets  his  middle  name  from 
him.  Perhaps  no  man  among  the  Connecticut  founders  could  boast 
among  his  descendants  so  many  governors,  statesmen,  and  judges,  as 
Henry  Wolcott,  of  Windsor.  The  (genealogical)  family  circle  of  his 
great-granddaughter  Ursula,  who  married  Matthew  Griswold,  of  Lyme, 
includes  twelve  governors  and  thirty-four  judges.  The  sons  of  Matthew 
Allyn,  of  Windsor,  John  and  Captain  Thomas,  were  prominent  men ; 
and  from  Matthew  Grant,  President  Ulysses  S.  Grant  was  descended. 


THE   PEQUOT    WAR.  49 


SECTION    III. 


BY    THE    REV.    INCREASE    N.    TARBOX,    D.D. 
The  Pequot  War.  —  The  Code  of  ]650.  —  General  History  to  1665. 

In  1636  John  Oldham,  a  trader  from  Watertown,  Massachusetts, 
was  murdered  by  the  Pequots  while  lying  off  Block  Island.  The  ex- 
pedition under  Governor  John  Endicott,  of  Salem,  despatched  to  avenge 
this  massacre  and  to  demand  submission  from  the  Pequots,  succeeded 
only  in  injuring  a  few  innocent  natives,  and  in  irritating  without  in- 
timidating the  warlike  nation ,  not  only  raising  new  hope  and  audacity 
in  the  breasts  of  the  Pequots,  but  also  inducing  a  kind  of  contempt  for 
the  English  in  the  large  and  powerful  tribe  of  the  Xarragansetts,  inhab- 
iting the  territory  now  covered  by  Rhode  Island.  There  was  imminent 
danger,  by  reason  of  this  turn  in  affairs,  that  the  Pequots  would  draw 
their  old  enemies,  the  Narragansetts,  into  league  with  themselves. 

Without  this  alliance,  however,  the  Pequots  were  greatly  embold- 
ened. They  knew  that  all  the  Indian  tribes,  far  around,  were  afraid 
of  them,  and  they  now  had  some  reason  to  think  that  the  white  people 
were  equally  afraid.  It  will  be  remembered  that  John  Winthrop,  Jr., 
began  to  build  a  fort  in  1635,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut  River, 
with  the  men  and  the  money  he  had  brought  over  from  England.  It 
was  of  course  well  understood  by  the  Indians  that  this  fort  was  a  part 
of  the  system,  offensive  and  defensive,  by  which  the  English  were  try- 
ing to  establish  themselves  in  the  country,  and  this  place  therefore 
became  an  object  against  which  the  Pequots  directed  their  hostilities. 
From  the  fall  of  1635  on  through  the  following  winter  squads  of  Pequots 
were  lurking  in  the  forests  about  this  fort,  never  daring  to  come  up  and 
attack  it  bodily,  but  watching  and  waiting  to  cut  off  any  persons  who 
might  be  passing  to  or  from  distant  places,  or  who  might  have  to  come 
outside  the  fort  for  any  purpose  whatever.  Lion  Gardiner,  under  whose 
care  and  oversight  the  fort  had  been  built,  had  been  left  in  charge  of 
the  same  through  that  long  and  dreary  winter.  But  the  crowning  act 
of  audacity  which  brought  matters  at  once  to  a  crisis  was  perpetrated 
in  the  early  spring  of  1636,  when  a  party  of  Pequots,  about  one  hun- 
dred in  number,  found  their  way  to  the  infant  settlement  at  Wethers- 
field,  where  they  killed  nine  men  and  carried  away  captive  two  girls. 

It  was  now  apparent  that  the  Pequots  had  entered  upon  a  course  of 
hostilities  which  would  not  stop  until  their  power  was  curbed  or  crushed. 
Under  such  circumstances  the  General  Court  came  together  at  Hartford 
on  the  first  day  of  May,  1637,  and  the  first  entry  in  the  record  of  that 
meeting  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  It  is  ordered  that  there  shalbe  an  offensive  warr  ag*  the  Pequoitt,  and  that 

there  shalbe  90  men  levied  out  of  the  3  Plantacons,  Hartford,  Weathersfield,  & 

Windsor  (viz1)  out  of  Harteford  42,  Windsor  30,  Weathersfield   18,  vnder  the 

comande  of  Captaine  Jo:  Mason,  &  in  Case  of  his  death  or  sicknes  vnder  cofnand 

vol.  i.  —  3. 


50  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

of  Rob.te  Seely  Leift  &  the  'ldest  sleant  or  military  officer  survivinge,  if  both 
these  miscarry." 

The  Massachusetts  and  the  Plymouth  colonies  agreed  to  render  aid 
in  this  war.  Massachusetts  in  a  special  session  of  the  General  Court 
ordered  a  levy  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  men  and  voted  <£600.  The 
military  forces  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  were  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Major  Israel  Stoughton,  who  afterward  went  back  to  England 
and  commanded  a  regiment  in  Cromwell's  army. 

It  was  on  the  10th  of  May  that  the  little  army  of  ninety  whites  and 
seventy  friendly  Indians  went  down  the  river  and  landed  at  Saybrook 
the  Monday  morning  following.  Mr.  Samuel  Stone,  associate  minister 
with  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker,  of  Hartford,  was  chaplain.  At  Saybrook 
Captain  John  Underbill,  with  nineteen  men,  joined  Captain  Mason's 
army,  and  twenty  men  were  sent  back  from  Saybrook  more  effectually 
to  guard  the  river  settlements,  which  had  been  left  in  an  exposed 
condition,  so  that  no  more  than  seventy  of  the  men  gathered  out  of 
Hartford,  Windsor,  and  Wethersfield  went  forward  to  the  great  battle. 
Of  these,  so  far  as  it  has  been  possible  to  recover  their  names,  Dr. 
Trumbull  has  made  the  following  enrolment :  — 

From  Hartford  :  Thomas  Bull,  Wm.  Blumfiehl,  John  Brunson,  Thos.  Bunce, 
Thos.  Barnes,  Peter  Blachford,  Benjamin  Burr,  John  Clarke,  Nicholas  Clarke, 
Sergt.  Philip  Davis,  Nich8  Desborough,  Thomas  Hales,  Samuel  Hales,  William 
Haydon,  John  Hills,  John  Hallaway,  Tho8  Hollyhut  (Hurlburt),  Jona,  luce, 
Benjamin  Munn,  Nich.  Jennings8  Nich.  Olmsted,  Richard  Olmsted,  John  Purkas, 
William  Pratt,  Wm.  Phillips,  Tho8  Root,  Thomas  Spencer,  Arthur  Smith,  Thomas 
Stanton,  Rev.  Samuel  Stone,  George  Steele,  Samuel  Whitehead,  John  Warner, 
Stephen  Hart,  Zachary  Field,  William  Cornwell,  Thomas  Munson,  —  37. 

From  Windsor :  Serj.  Benedict  Alvord,  Thos.  Buckland,  Thomas  Barber, 
John  Dyer,  Richard  Osborn,  Tho8  Styles,  Serj.  Stares,  Thomas  Parsons,  Thomas 
Gridley,  William  Trail,  Nathan  Gillett,  James  Egleston,  Geo.  Chappell,  Capt. 
John  Mason,  —  14. 

From  Wethersfield:   John   Johnson,   Jeremy   Jagger,   Lieut.   Robert    Seeley, 

Richard   Westcoat,    Merriman,   Thomas   Standish,    Tho8   Tibballs,   Henry 

Smith,  John  Nott,  — 9. 

Of  the  Men  from  Saybrook :  Capt.  John  Underbill,  Edward  Pattison,  James 
Rogers,  Edward  Lay,  John  Gallop,  John  Woods,  —  6. 

In  all  here  are  sixty-six ;  but  Dr.  Trumbull  notes  the  family  name 
of  another,  Mr.  Hedge,  who  was  certainly  in  the  battle  and  was  probably 
from  Windsor.  Captain  Mason  in  his  narrative  says  :  "  A  valiant,  reso- 
lute Gentleman,  one  Mr.  Hedge,  stepping  towards  the  gate  (of  the  Fort), 
saying,  '  If  we  may  not  enter,  wherefore  came  we  here,'  and  immedi- 
ately endeavoured  to  enter."  This  makes  sixty-seven.  Captain  Mason 
states  that  there  were  but  seventy-seven  white  men  actually  in  the  battle. 
Of  the  original  ninety,  several  had  to  be  left  to  guard  and  man  the 
vessels,  while  the  others  went  to  the  fight ;  and  none  of  these  should  be 
deprived  of  the  honors  of  the  expedition. 

Captain  Mason  concluded  to  take  "  the  farthest  way  about,"  instead 
of  the  Pequot  (Thames)  River,  and  when  the  winds  were  propitious 
set  sail  for  the  Narragansett  country.  They  started  off  on  a  Friday 
morning  and  reached  the  place  where  they  were  to  land  Saturday 
evening,  but  did  not  go  on  shore.     They  kept  quietly  in  their  vessels 


THE  PEQUOT  WAR.  51 

over  the  Sabbath,  and  doubtless  Chaplain  (the  Rev.  Samuel)  Stone 
held  religious  services  on  board.  On  Monday  the  wind  blew  so  strongly 
from  the  northwest  that  they  could  not  safely  land.  So  was  it  on 
Tuesday  till  near  night,  when  it  became  calmer.  As  soon  as  they  had 
landed  they  found  the  nearest  Narragansett  sachem  and  explained  the 
object  of  their  expedition;  and  he  gave  full  leave,  as  they  had  antici- 
pated, to  march  through  his  country.  So  they  left  certain  men  with 
the  vessels  and  proceeded  on  their  way.  The  place  where  they  had 
landed  was  not  far  off  from  Point  Judith,  and  the  distance  from  there 
to  the  Pequot  Fort,  in  a  straight  line,  could  not  have  been  more  than 
about  twenty-five  miles  ;  but  by  devious  ways  their  marches,  in  all, 
seem  to  have  been  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  miles  before  reaching  the 
enemy. 

Captain  Mason  and  his  men  setting  out  on  Wednesday  morning 
marched  about  eighteen  miles  to  Nyantick,  where  they  passed  Wednes- 
day night.  Though  the  sachem  here  was  ungracious,  yet  friendly  In- 
dians from  the  Narragansetts  joined  themselves  to  the  river  Indians 
with  whom  they  set  out,  till  they  had  in  their  train  not  far  from  five 
hundred  Indians,  of  whose  treachery  they  were  the  more  afraid  because 
they  were  dependent  upon  their  help. 

When  Mason  landed  near  Point  Judith  a  messenger  arrived  report- 
ing that  Captain  Daniel  Patrick  had  reached  what  is  now  Providence, 
on  his  way  from  Massachusetts  with  a  military  force,  and  asking  Captain 
Mason  to  wait  till  he  could  join  him.  But  Mason  feared  that  any  delay 
now  would  only  give  the  Pequots  an  opportunity  to  discover  his  plans, 
and  he  determined  to  go  forward  without  waiting  for  the  reinforce- 
ments. On  Thursday  morning  he  started  from  the  Nyantick  country 
and  marched  about  twelve  miles,  when  they  made  a  halt  of  some  hours 
to  rest  and  refresh  themselves.  Toward  night  they  moved  on  three 
miles  till  they  came  into  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  fort,  without 
giving  any  knowledge  of  their  approach. 

Next  morning  was  Friday,  and  in  the  early  morning  the  terrible 
blow  was  delivered,  by  gun,  by  sword,  by  fire,  or  in  any  way  to  insure 
the  quickest  and  most  wholesale  destruction  of  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren. Captain  Mason  sums  up  the  result  of  that  attack  in  these  words : 
"  And  thus  in  little  more  than  one  Hour's  space  was  their  impregnable 
fort  with  themselves  utterly  Destroyed,  to  the  number  of  six  or  seven 
Hundred,  as  some  of  themselves  confessed.  There  were  only  seven  taken 
captive  and  about  seven  escaped." 

Captain  John  Underbill,  who  was  in  the  fight,  says  :  "  There  were 
about  four  hundred  souls  in  the  fort,  and  not  above  five  of  them  escaped 
out  of  our  hands." 

It  is  not  needful  that  we  should  repeat  the  horrible  details  of  that 
battle.  Palfrey  in  his  History  has  summed  up  this  whole  matter  in  a 
paragraph  admirable  for  its  wisdom  and  charity.1 

In  1637  Connecticut  consisted  simply  and  solely  of  the  three  original 
plantations,  Windsor,  Hartford,  and  Wethersfield.  We  have  elsewhere 
treated  of  the  co-operation  of  these  towns  in  the  Pequot  War,  and  the 
general   style   of  their  government  in  their  new  beginnings.     In  the 

1  History  of  New  England,  vol.  i.  p.  467. 


52  MEMORIAL  HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

spring  of  1638  the  New  Haven  colony  planted  itself  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Quinnipiack  River,  and  thus  gave  a  sense  of  friendly  neighborhood 
between  the  dwellers  on  the  river  and  those  on  the  south  shore. 

In  1639  the  new  written  Constitution  was  adopted  in  the  Connecti- 
cut colony,  and  society  was  organized  on  a  basis  of  more  strength  and 
dignity.  New-comers  were  rapidly  dropping  in  to  the  three  towns 
singly  or  in  little  companies.  The  annihilation  of  the  Pequot  tribe 
gave  to  the  planters  a  sense  of  security  in  their  daily  toil  and  in  the 
slumbers  of  the  night. 

In  1639  Roger  Ludlow,  of  Windsor,  led  off  a  little  colony  to  plant 
the  town  of  Fairfield,  which  seems  to  have  been  the  earliest  organized 
outgrowth  from  the  river  plantation.  By  its  locality,  its  more  natural 
connection  would  have  been  with  the  New  Haven  colony  ;  but  it  reckoned 
itself  from  the  first  as  within  the  Connecticut  jurisdiction. 

Not  far  from  the  same  time,  and  in  connection  with  Mr.  Ludlow's 
movements,  a  settlement  was  begun  in  a  place  bordering  on  Fairfield, 
called  by  the  Indians  Uncoway,  but  soon  after  known  as  the  town  of 
Stratford.  This  also,  though  near  Xew  Haven,  was  one  of  the  Connec- 
ticut plantations. 

Each  year  there  were  "two  General  Assemblies,  or  Courts,  the  one 
on  the  Second  Thursday  of  April,  and  the  other  on  the  Second  Thurs- 
day of  September.'"  The  one  in  April  was  called  the  Court  of  Election, 
when  the  governor,  magistrates,  deputies,  etc.,  were  chosen.  The 
other  General  Court,  in  September,  was  for  the  making  of  laws,  and 
the  transaction  of  all  business  touching  the  welfare  of  the  colony. 
Both  of  these  meetings  were  from  time  to  time  adjourned,  so  that  the 
court  was  usually  together  several  times  each  year. 

In  1641  the  town  of  Saybrook,  with  all  its  rights  and  belongings, 
was  made  over  by  sale  and  purchase  to  the  Connecticut  colony  ;  and 
though  there  were  many  later  frictions  before  matters  were  finally 
adjusted,  yet  Saybrook  stands  historically  connected  and  associated 
with  the  river  towns  above,  from  the  year  1644.  The  same  year 
Agawam  (Springfield),  which  had  kept  up  a  kind  of  half-way  lingering 
connection  with  the  towns  below,  was  entirely  taken  out  of  this  connec- 
tion, and  fixed  as  belonging  to  the  Massachusetts  jurisdiction. 

In  1645  Farmington,  on  the  Tunxis  River,  was  surveyed  and 
bounded,  and  admitted  into  the  list  of  Connecticut  towns.  Mr.  George 
Wyllis,  in  making  his  will  in  March,  1645,  calls  this  infant  settlement 
Tunxis  Cepus.  Sometimes  in  those  early  records  it  was  written 
Unxus  Sepus.  A  settlement  had  already  been  begun  there,  for  Mr. 
Wyllis  gave  "  forty  shillings  to  the  pore  at  Tunxis  Cepus."  Dr.  J.  H. 
Trumbull  says  Sepus  or  Cepus  is  an  Indian  word  for  a  little  river. 

The  plantation  on  the  Pequot  River,  begun  in  1645  by  the  younger 
Winthrop,  was  called  a  town  in  1646,  and  known  sometimes  as  Na- 
meage  and  sometimes  as  Pequitt.  To  what  jurisdiction  it  appertained 
was  for  a  time  uncertain.  At  a  General  Court  of  Connecticut,  March 
20,  1658,  this  matter  was  settled.  "  The  plantation  at  Pequet  is  named 
by  this  court,  New  London." 

At  a  General  Court  at  Hartford,  Sept.  11,  1651,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing items  in  the  records  :  "  It  is  ordered,  sentenced,  and  decreed,  that 
Mattabeseck   [Middletown]  shall  bee  a  Towne." 

"It  is  likewise  ordered  that  Norwauke  shall  bee  a  Towne." 


THE   CODE   OF   1650.  53 

111  the  year  1650  the  Code  of  Laws  was  completed  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  Roger  Ludlow,  and  accepted.  This  helped  to  give  a  sense 
of  order  and  security  throughout  the  infant  commonwealth. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  General  Court  of  Connecticut,  held  April  10, 
1646,  Edward  Hopkins  governor  and  John  Haynes  deputy-governor,  the 
following  action  was  taken  :  — 

"Mr.  Ludlowe  is  desired  to  take  some  paynes  in  drawing  forth  a  body  of 
Lawes  for  the  gouernment  of  this  Coition  welth  &  prsent  the  to  the  next  Generall 
Court,  and  if  he  can  prouide  a  man  for  his  occations  while  he  is  imployed  in  the 
said  searnice  he  shalbe  paid  at  the  Country  ehardge." 

It  is  provided  in  this  vote  that  this  work  of  embodying  the  colony 
laws  should  he  completed  in  a  year  and  report  thereof  made  to  the 
Court.  But  in  a  work  of  this  magnitude  and  importance  it  could  hardly 
be  expected  that  it  would  be  finished  in  a  year.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Court,  May  25,  1647,  an  additional  minute  was  passed  as  follows :  — 

"  When  Mr.  Lndlowe  hath  prfeeted  a  body  of  lawes,  as  the  court  hath  desired 
him,  it  is  the  mynd  of  the  Court  that  he  should,  besids  paying  the  hyer  of  a  man, 
be  further  considered  for  his  paynes." 

These  arrangements  having  been  made  and  orders  passed,  Mr.  Lud- 
low was  busy  about  a  work  which  must,  if  properly  done,  occupy 
considerable  time ;  and  we  hear  no  more  until  Feb.  5, 1650-51,  when  we 
find  on  the  records  the  following  :  — 

"  This  Courte  graunts  and  orders,  that  the  Secretary  shall  bee  allowed  and 
paid  the  sum  of  six  pounds,  being  in  prt  of  payment  for  his  great  paines  in  draw- 
ing out  and  transcribing  the  country  orders,  concluded  and  established  in  May 
last." 

The  "  country  orders  "  here  spoken  of  are  the  code  of  laws  before 
provided  for ;  and  by  this  entry  we  learn  that  the  code  was  completed 
and  established  in  May,  1650,  and  hence  called  "  the  code  of  1650." 
The  colonial  secretary  at  that  time  was  John  Cullick,  of  Hartford ;  and 
the  last  vote  quoted  relates  to  his  compensation  for  "  drawing  out  and 
transcribing"  the  same.  The  whole  code  may  be  found  in  the  first 
printed  volume  of  the  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut,  1636-1665  ;  it 
covers  fifty-four  large  and  compactly  printed  pages.  Mr.  Ludlow  had 
doubtless  been  paid  for  his  valuable  services  in  making  the  compilation, 
according  to  the  intimation  given  in  one  of  the  votes  we  have  quoted. 

Dr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  the  editor  and  compiler  of  the  first  vol- 
umes of  the  Colonial  Records,  adds  a  note  at  the  opening  of  the  code, 
from  which  we  extract  the  following  :  — 

"This  Code  [usually  cited  as  Mr.  "  Ludlow's  Code"  or  "the  Code  of  1650"] 
is  recorded  at  the  end  of  Vol.  TT.  of  the  Colony  Records  [the  manuscript  volumes], 
and  separately  paged.  The  orders  subsequently  passed  were,  from  time  to  time, 
added  at  the  end,  or  occasionally  inserted  under  the  appropriate  title,  by  the  Sec- 
retary. Prefixed  to  the  Laws  is  a  copy  of  the  Fundamental  Orders,  or  Constitu- 
tion of  1639,  already  printed  on  pages  20-25  of  this  volume."1 

This  Code  is  divided  into  eighty-eight  sections,  arranged  alphabeti- 
cally according  to  the  topics  treated,  beginning  with  Ability,  Actions, 

1  Colonial  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  509. 


54  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Age,  and  Arrests,  and  ending  with  Watches,  Wolves,  Wrecks  of  the  Sea, 
and  Vessels. 

In  this  year  (1650)  some  important  business  was  accomplished 
touching  the  Narragansett  Indians  and  the  Dutch.  The  commissioners 
of  the  four  colonies  met  that  year,  September  5,  at  Hartford.  This 
confederation  of  the  four  colonies  had  been  formed  and  ratified  May 
19,  1643.  At  the  meeting  in  1650  Massachusetts  was  represented  by 
Mr.  Simon  Bradstreet  and  Mr.  William  Hawthorne  ;  Plymouth,  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Prince  and  Mr.  John  Brown  ;  Connecticut,  by  Mr.  Edward 
Hopkins  and  Mr.  John  Haynes  ;  and  New  Haven,  by  Mr.  Theophilus 
Eaton  and  Mr.  Stephen  Goodyear. 

It  was  now  thirteen  years  since  the  utter  overthrow  of  the  Pequots 
had  brought  a  wholesome  fear  over  all  the  other  New  England  tribes. 
But  by  degrees  acts  of  cruelty  and  wrong  had  been  perpetrated  by  the 
great  tribe  of  the  Narragansetts,for  which  they  had  been  brought  to  terms, 
and  had  agreed  to  pay  a  large  tribute  as  a  penalty  for  these  outrages. 
Whenever  the  times  set  for  payment  came,  the  Narragansett  chiefs 
delayed  and  prevaricated,  all  the  while  making  fair  promises,  until  the 
patience  of  the  English  was  exhausted.  At  this  meeting  of  the  commis- 
sioners at  Hartford,  the  Narragansett  tribute-money  being  yet  unpaid, 
one  of  the  first  items  of  business  was  to  despatch  Captain  Humphrey 
Atherton,  then  at  Springfield,  with  twenty  men,  to  collect  their  long- 
delayed  payments.  Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull,  in  his  "History  of  Connec- 
ticut" (Vol.  I.  p.  188),  has  told  us  how  this  commission  given  to  Captain 
Atherton  was  executed  :  — 

"  He  was  authorized,  if  they  should  not  be  paid  upon  demand,  to  seize  .on 
the  best  articles  he  could  find,  to  the  full  amount  of  what  was  due ;  or  on  Pessa- 
cus,  the  chief  sachem,  or  any  of  his  children,  and  carry  them  off.  Upon  his 
arrival  among  the  Narragansetts,  lie  found  the  sachem  recurring  to  his  former  arts, 
putting  him  off  with  deceitful  and  dilatory  answers,  and  not  suffering  him  to 
approach  his  presence.  In  the  mean  time  lie  was  collecting  his  warriors  about  him. 
The  captain  therefore  marched  directly  to  the  door  of  his  wigwam,  where,  posting 
his  men,  he  entered  himself,  with  his  pistol  in  his  hand,  and  seizing  Pessacus  by 
the  hair  of  his  head,  drew  him  from  the  midst  of  his  attendants,  declaring  if  they 
should  make  the  least  resistance,  he  would  despatch  him  in  an  instant.  This 
bold  stroke  gave  him  such  an  alarm  that  he  at  once  paid  all  the  arrearages." 

In  addition  to  this  Indian  business,  the  commissioners,  at  this  meet- 
ing of  1650,  undertook  to  clear  up  and  strengthen  the  relations  of  New 
England  with  the  Dutch.  Ever  since  the  coming  of  the  English  into 
the  river,  in  1633,  there  had  been  conflicting  interests  and  claims,  in 
reference  to  which  we  have  to  confess  that  the  Dutch  had  carried  them- 
selves quite  as  kindly  and  forbearingly  as  their  opponents. 

There  was  one  more  source  of  uneasiness  and  trouble  which  came 
before  these  commissioners  for  adjustment.  Ever  since  the  bargain 
had  been  made  with  George  Fenwick,  in  1644,  for  the  delivery  of  Say- 
brook,  its  fort  and  stores,  to  the  Connecticut  Colony,  the  people  in  the 
towns  above  had  been  dissatisfied  with  the  terms  on  which  that  bargain 
had  been  completed.  It  bound  the  Connecticut  people  to  such  a  system 
of  toll-paying  as  was  petty  and  disagreeable.  This  business  had  been 
reviewed  and  a  change  effected  in  1646.     But  there  were  still  friction 


GENERAL   HISTORY   TO    1665.  55 

and  strife.  The  year  1650  so  adjusted  matters  as  to  bring  comparative 
peace.  A  general  sum  was  to  be  paid  by  the  colony  for  a  term  of  years, 
instead  of  this  individual  tribute.  There  were  still  some  after  troubles 
about  this  matter. 

The  year  1653  was  one  of  great  fear  and  disturbance  throughout  the 
colonies,  especially  in  Connecticut  and  New  Haven.  The  difficulties 
with  the  Dutch  came  back  in  greater  strength  than  ever.  There  was  a 
wide-spread  belief  that  the  Dutch  Governor  at  New  York  was  in  a  plot 
with  the  Indians  for  a  general  uprising  to  extirpate  the  English  planta- 
tions. Six  of  the  eight  commissioners  for  that  year  thought  they  had 
sufficient  grounds  for  declaring  war  against  the  Dutch.  Massachusetts 
held  back. 

In  1654  a  fleet  was  sent  out  by  Cromwell  to  assist  the  }\e\v  England 
colonies  in  their  difficulties  with  the  Dutch.  There  were  great  runnings 
to  and  fro,  Massachusetts  consenting,  but  not  directly  assisting,  to  raise 
an  army  of  co-operation  with  the  fleet.  But  while  these  excitements 
were  abroad,  the  news  came  of  a  great  victory  of  the  English  over  the 
Dutch  in  a  naval  battle  in  which  the  Dutch  suffered  such  immense  loss 
that  they  were  glad  to  sue  for  peace ;  and  so  New  England  drifted 
through  these  Dutch  difficulties  without  actual  war. 

The  number  of  ratable  persons,  as  given  by  the  historian  Trumbull, 
in  the  Connecticut  Colony  for  the  year  1654  was  775,  which  would  imply 
a  population  of  nearly  4,000.  Hartford  had  the  highest  number,  177; 
but  Windsor  had  been  rapidly  gaining  on  Hartford  since  the  Pequot 
War,  for  Windsor  had  165  of  these  ratable  persons.  At  the  time  of  the 
war,  in  1637,  Hartford  furnished  forty-two  men  as  its  quota,  and  Wind- 
sor thirty.  The  smallest  town  in  Connecticut  was  Norwalk,  which  had 
twenty-four  rates.     The  grand  list  was  X 79,073. 

In  the  year  1660  a  full  and  final  adjustment  was  made  with  the  Fen- 
wick  heirs,  in  the  matter  of  the  purchase  of  Saybrook,  when  it  was 
found  that  the  heirs  had  been  overpaid,  and  that  they  were  indebted  to 
the  colony  to  the  amount  of  <£500. 

This  year  (1660)  saw  the  end  of  the  English  Commonwealth  under 
Cromwell  and  his  son  Richard.  Cromwell  died  on  the  4th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1658,  and  Richard,  after  idling  away  a  few  months  in  his  father's 
illustrious  seat,  retired  to  private  life ;  for  there  was  nothing  else  for 
him  to  do.  His  resignation  took  place  in  July,  1659,  ten  years  after 
Charles  I.  had  been  publicly  tried  and  executed.  Palfrey  says  :  "  Intel- 
ligence of  the  accession  of  Charles  the  Second  to  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors  was  not  long  in  reaching  Boston.  The  Journal  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  which  sat  three  months  later,  contains  no  reference  to  the 
new  state  of  things.1 

John  Leverett  was  at  that  time  the  agent  of  Massachusetts  in  Eng- 
land, and  in  the  month  of  November  a  letter  received  from  him  made  it 
plain  that  it  was  time  for  Massachusetts  to  speak.  Accordingly,  an 
extra  session  of  the  General  Court  was  at  once  called,  and  an  Address 
to  the  King  prepared.  It  was  nearly  a  year  after  the  king's  accession 
when  the  Plymouth  Colony  sent  an  address  of  welcome ;  but  its  mes- 
sage, when  sent,  was  full  and  hearty.  It  was  nearly  a  year  before  the 
New  Haven  Colony  acted  in  this  matter,  and  then  not  until  its  memory 
had  been  jogged  by  a  letter  from  Massachusetts. 

1  History  of  New  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  447. 


56  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Connecticut  pursued  her  own  course.  At  the  session  of  the  General 
Court  held  March  14,  1661,  we  find  the  following  entry  upon  this  topic. 
The  opening  sentence  shows  that  the  subject-matter  had  been  under 
consideration  some  time  before  :  — 

"  In  reference  to  former  intentions  and  motions  wch  could  not  be  brought  to 
a  ful  conclusion,  for  ye  manner  and  meanes  to  accomplish  the  same,  til  this  meet- 
ing of  ye  Generall  Court,  It  is  concluded  and  declared  by  this  Court.  That  (as  it 
was  formerly  agreed  by  those  Magistrates  and  Deputies  that  could  then  be  as- 
sembled together)  it  is  our  duty  and  very  necessary  to  make  a  speedy  address  to 
his  Sacred  Majesty,  our  Soveraigne  Lord  Charles  the  Second,  King  of  England, 
Scotland,  France,  and  Ireland,  to  acknowledge  our  loyalty  and  allegiance  to  his 
highnes,  hereby  declareing  and  professing  ourselves,  all  the  inhabitants  of  this 
Colony,  to  be  his  Highnes  loyall  and  faythfull  subjects.  And  doe  further  con- 
clude it  necessary  that  we  should  humbly  petition  his  Majesty  for  grace  and 
favour,  and  for  ye  continuance  and  contirmation  of  such  priviledges  and  liberties 
as  are  necessary  for  the  comfortable  and  peaceable  settlement  of  this  Colony." 

At  the  regular  May  meeting  of  the  Court  a  draft  of  an  address  to 
the  king,  drawn  by  Governor  Winthrop,  was  presented,  with  which  the 
Court  was  well  satisfied ;  but  as  some  additions  or  changes  might  be 
needful,  a  committee  was  chosen  to  "  compleat  ye  Address,  and  draw  up 
the  Petition  to  bis  Majesty."  At  a  session  of  the  Court,  June  7,  1661, 
all  these  matters  were  finally  fixed  and  arranged  :  — 

"  This  Court  haueing  considered  the  Address  and  Petition  compleated  by  the' 
Committee,  to  be  sent  and  p'sented  to  his  Matie  or  Soveraigne  Lord  Charles  the 
2nd,  and  also  the  Instructions  drawen  vp  for  or  Wory  Governor,  Agent  for  the  Col- 
ony in  ye  prmisses,  doe  approve  of  that  wch  ye  Committee  hath  done." 

The  Court  went  on  to  make  provisions  for  the  support  of  Governor 
Winthrop  in  England,  and  for  the  expenses  which  would  be  incurred  in 
his  effort  to  procure  a  charter.  With  all  its  honors  and  congratulations 
to  the  king  in  the  address,  the  great  object  of  Governor  Winthrop's 
personal  visit  to  England  was,  if  possible,  to  obtain  a  charter  which 
would  put  certain  perplexing  questions  forever  at  rest. 

With  this  delicate  and  important  business  intrusted  to  his  hands, 
Governor  Winthrop  left  for  England  in  July,  1661.  Dr.  J.  H.  Trumbull, 
in  written  notes  appended  to  the  first  volume  of  the  Connecticut  Colo- 
nial Records,  says,  "  Gov.  Winthrop  sailed  from  New  Amsterdam  (New 
York)  23d  July,  in  the  Dutch  ship,  De  Trouw."  In  another  note  he 
says,  "July  18,  1661,  in  the  book  of  Monthly  Payments,  27  lbs.  pow- 
der are  charged  'to  salute  Gov.  Winthrop  coming  here  (New  York) 
from  the  Fresh  River  to  proceed  in  the  Trou  to  Fatherland.'  " 

In  one's  approaches  to  kings  and  rulers,  the  manner  often  weighs 
as  much  as  the  matter ;  and  Connecticut  was  exceedingly  fortunate  in 
having  intrusted  this  business  to  a  man  oi  polished  and  courtly  ad- 
dress, who  had  so  many  friends  in  England  to  open  the  doors  for  him 
into  the  king's  presence  and  give  him  a  favorable  introduction  to  the 
throne. 

In  this  year  (1660)  the  town  of  Huntington,  Long  Island,  having 
petitioned  to  be  taken  under  the  Connecticut  jurisdiction,  as  Southamp- 
ton had  done  in  1644  and  East  Hampton  in  1649,  the  General  Court 
granted  their  request,  conditioned  only  on  the  consent  of  the  Commis- 


GENERAL  HISTORY   TO   1665.  57 

sioners  of  the  United  Colonies.  No  objection  was  made  from  that 
quarter,  and  accordingly  Huntington  became  a  quasi  town  of  Connecti- 
cut. In  1(3(32  the  same  permission  was  given  to  the  town  of  Southold, 
Long  Island.  This  connection  of  the  Long  Island  towns  with  the  Con- 
necticut Colony  must  have  ceased  altogether  when  the  new  charter  went 
into  operation,  because  that  charter  did  not  touch  Long  Island.  Its 
territory  was  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  Ocean  Shore,  and  Long  Island 
Sound  was  understood  to  be  a  part  of  the  ocean.  Turning  to  Howell's 
History  of  "  Southampton,  Long  Island"  (pp.  60,  61),  we  find  this  whole 
matter  made  clear  and  definite  :  — 

"  March  12,  16G4,  Charles  II.  granted,  with  other  territory,  Long  Island  and 
islands  adjacent  to  his  brother  James,  Duke  of  York.  .  .  .  Under  the  patent 
granted  to  Connecticut,  Nov.  3,  1644,  the  province  claimed  jurisdiction  over  Long 
Island.  [There  is  a  mistake  in  this  date ;  he  doubtless  refers  to  the  charter  given 
to  the  Saybrook  patentees.]  .  .  .  Gov.  Winthrop,  on  seeing  the  letters-patent  to 
the  Duke  of  York,  informed  the  English  on  Long  Island  that  Connecticut  had  no 
longer  any  claims  upon  that  island." 

After  this  statement  Mr.  Howell  adds  the  following :  — 

"This  union  with  New  York  was,  however,  very  unacceptable  to  the  inhabi- 
tants at  the  east  end  of  the  island.  Their  intercourse  with  the  towns  along  the 
Connecticut  River  was  frequent,  and  in  customs,  education,  and  religion  they  were 
identical  with  their  New  England  brethren.  A  considerable  trade  had  grown  up 
between  the  three  towns  on  the  east  end  and  Connecticut,  and  the  efforts  of  his 
Royal  Highness's  officials  to  divert  this  to  New  York  met  with  hearty  resistance." 

While  this  topic  of  a  new  charter  was  on  the  docket,  a  very  per- 
plexing element  intruded  itself  upon  the  colonies.  As  soon  as  it  was 
known,  in  the  summer  of  1660,  that  Charles  II.  was  coming  back  from 
the  Continent  to  take  the  throne,  several  of  the  judges  who  had  signed 
the  death-warrant  of  Charles  I.  fled  the  land.  Two  of  these  judges, 
William  Goffe  and  Edward  Whalley,  reached  Boston  in  the  very  vessel 
which  brought  the  news  that  Charles  II.  was  on  the  throne.  At  first 
they  lived  openly  at  Cambridge,  hoping  and  expecting  that  they  would 
be  covered  and  protected  by  the  forthcoming  Act  of  Indemnity.  Some- 
time later  another  of  the  king's  judges  arrived, —  Colonel  John  Dixwell. 
When  Goffe  and  W'halley  found  that  they  were  not  exempted,  but  were 
singled  out  for  vengeance,  they  thought  they  should  be  safer  elsewhere 
than  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay.  They  betook  themselves  to  New  Haven, 
and  were  in  various  places  along  the  river  and  the  south  shore.  The 
story  of  the  concealment  of  those  judges  forms  one  of  the  wild  and 
romantic  stories  connected  with  the  early  history  of  New  England. 
The  two  officers  from  England,  Thomas  Kellond  and  Thomas  Kirk, 
were  all  the  while  in  hot  pursuit,  but  somehow  it  strangely  happened 
that  they  could  never  come  quite  up  to  the  fugitives.  They  had  taken 
the  wrong  road,  or  were  just  a  few  minutes  too  late ;  and  this,  too, 
notwithstanding  they  had  so  many  people  to  help  them.  This  was  a 
very  ugly  chapter  to  be  opened  just  as  Governor  John  Winthrop  had 
gone  over  to  England  to  obtain  a  charter. 

Through  the  winter  of  1661-1662  the  people  of  Connecticut  were 
eagerly  waiting  to  hear  news  about  the  progress  of  Winthrop' s  nego- 
tiations.   But  at  last  the  patience  of  the  people  was  to  be  gratified.     In 


58  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

the  first  volume  of  the  Collections  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society, 
pp.  52,  53,  may  he  found  the  letter  bearing  date,  London,  May  13,  1662, 
which  Governor  John  Winthrop  sent  home  when  he  was  sure  of  his 
charter.  He  knew  (though  it  took  some  persons  on  this  side  the  water 
a  long  time  to  find  it  out)  that  he  had  obtained  a  grant  from  Charles 
II.  for  which  all  the  people  of  Connecticut  ought  to  be  grateful.  Mr. 
Winthrop  was  writing,  as  is  supposed,  to  Mr.  John  Talcott,  Treasurer 
of  the  Connecticut  Colony.     He  says  :  — 

"  Sir,  —  I  must  refer  to  this  bearer,  Mr.  Woolcott,  to  lett  you  kuow  what  I 
might  certify  more  at  large  concerning  the  full  issue  of  this  Charter  for  our  colony 
of  Connecticut^  which  hath  now  newly  passed  the  great  seale,  and  is  as  full  and 
large  for  bounds  and  priviledges  as  could  be  desired,  so  as  I  hope  all  will  be  well 
satisfieed  about  the  Charge  that  has  been  necessary  for  the  affecting  and  prose- 
cuting a  business  of  such  consequence  which  is  to  the  full  settlement  of  the  colony 
for  them  and  their  posterity." 

There  is  not  much  doubt  that  the  bearer  of  the  letter  was  Henry 
Wolcott,  then  fifty-two  years  old,  who  was  one  of  the  trustees  mentioned 
in  the  charter.  These  incorporators,  or  patentees,  are  nineteen,  and  in 
the  various  repetitions  of  the  names,  as  is  common  in  such  documents, 
Mr.  Wolcott's  name  is  written  Woolicott,  Woollcott,  Woolcott,  but  never 
Wolcott. 

The  charter  itself  did  not  come  over  yet  for  some  months.  It  was 
first  exhibited  on  these  shores  at  the  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  in 
Boston,  Sept.  4, 1662.  It  was  a  death-blow  to  the  New  Haven  Colony  as 
a  separate  jurisdiction.  Palfrey  regards  the  conduct  of  Winthrop  toward 
New  Haven  as  of  doubtful  morality,  at  the  same  time  that  he  raises  the 
question  whether  this  annihilation  of  the  New  Haven  identity  was  not 
done  contrary  to  Mr.  Winthrop' s  own  wishes.  He  suggests  that  Lord 
Clarendon,  the  English  Prime  Minister,  may  have  desired  to  humiliate 
Massachusetts,  the  most  powerful  of  the  New  England  colonies,  and  could 
do  it  in  no  way  more  effectually  than  by  taking  the  New  Haven  Colony, 
which  in  its  ideas  of  Church  and  State  was  in  hearty  sympathy  with 
Massachusetts,  and  destroying  its  existence  by  merging  it  in  Connecti- 
cut. But  whoever  contrived  the  plan,  and  whatever  the  motives  may 
have  been,  after  the  hatreds  and  animosities  of  a  few  years  had  died  out, 
the  people  of  Connecticut,  of  both  colonies,  found  themselves  in  posses- 
sion of  a  fair  heritage  of  freedom  which  none  would  wish  to  part  with 
or  fundamentally  change. 

Governor  Winthrop  returned  from  England,  was  made  the  first 
governor  under  the  new  charter,  and  so  continued  by  re-election  yearly 
until  his  death,  April  5,  1676. 


THE   CHARTER   OF   1(562.  59 


SECTION    IV. 

BY    THE    REV.    INCREASE    N.    TARBOX,    D.D. 

The  Charter  of  1662. — The  Union  of  the  Colonies.  —  Hartford  County 
Constituted. 

We  have  before  given  a  rapid  account  of  the  agency  by  which  this 
charter  was  obtained;  but  it  is  fitting  that  we  should  look  somewhat 
more  closely  to  the  charter  itself,  its  contents,  and  its  after  history. 

Charles  II.  and  his  ministers  must  have  been  in  an  amiable  mood 
during  the  years  1662  and  1663,  to  have  conferred  on  Connecticut  and 
Rhode-Island  charters  so  much  more  large  and  liberal  than  those  con- 
ferred by  the  English  Crown  on  the  other  American  colonies.  Rhode 
Island  claims,  perhaps  with  some  justice,  that  hers  was  more  generous 
even  than  that  of  Connecticut.  If  so,  she  certainly  did  not  know  how 
to  use  it  any  more  wisely,  or  get  a  more  substantial  good  out  of  it, 
than  did  the  people  of  Connecticut  out  of  theirs.  The  vital  peculiarity 
of  these  charters,  in  distinction  from  those  of  other  American  colonies, 
appears  in  the  fact  that  no  veto  power  was  retained  in  England  to  thwart 
the  free  action  of  the  people  in  the  election  of  their  own  governors  and 
the  transaction  of  all  governmental  business.  To  show  the  practical 
outworking  and  variation  of  the  two  kinds  of  charters,  we  may  recall  the 
fact  that  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Thomas 
Hutchinson,  an  American-born  citizen,  was  royal  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  was  serving  his  royal  master,  when  he  was  obliged  to  fly  from 
the  anger  of  the  people  and  take  refuge  in  England.  Thomas  Gage, 
commander  of  the  English  army  at  Boston,  was  made  governor  in  his 
stead ;  as  though  the  king  of  England  had  said,  if  you  will  not  accept 
one  of  your  own  citizens,  whom  I  have  appointed  to  be  your  head,  I 
will  give  you  a  man  of  war,  with  his  battalions  and  ships  of  war  about 
him,  whom  you  cannot  so  easily  drive  away. 

But  how  was  it  in  Connecticut  at  that  time  ?  Jonathan  Trumbull, 
of  Lebanon,  had  been  elected  governor  of  Connecticut  in  1769  by  the 
free  suffrages  of  the  people,  and  was  re-elected  to  the  same  office  for 
fifteen  years,  to  the  close  of  the  war ;  and  there  was  no  place  in  the 
charter  given  by  Charles  II.  where  the  king  of  England  could  step  in  to 
stay  those  proceedings.  Jonathan  Trumbull  was  of  the  people  and  for 
the  people,  the  right-hand  counsellor  and  helper  of  Washington  through 
the  whole  revolutionary  struggle. 

It  is  true,  under  the  brief  but  miserable  reign  of  James  II.,  1685- 
1689,  this  guaranty  was  broken,  not  by  any  pretence  of  law  or  right- 
eousness, but  simply  by  kingly  violence,  and  the  conditions  of  the  char- 
ter for  a  little  time  were  suspended.  Sir  Edmund  Andros  was  appointed 
governor  and  claimed  to  be  governor  of  all  New  England,  in  spite  of  all 
previous  grants  and  charters.  It  was  in  this  time  of  usurpation  that 
the  Rev.  Gershom  Bulkeley  (or  Gershom  Bulkeley,  Esq.,  for  he  was  a 


60  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

'  civilian  as  well  as  a  preacher)  wrote  a  letter  to  Governor  Treat  and  the 
Magistrates,  "  To  advise  concerning  Holding  of  a  Court  of  Election  by 
Virtue  of  and  according  to  the  late  Patent."  1 
In  this  letter  (p.  61)  he  says  :  — 

"Our  late  soveraign,  King  Charles  the  Second,  did  in  the  year  1662,  by  his 
letters  patents  for  himself,  his  Heires  and  Successors,  Ordaine  and  Constitute  the 
therein  named  Pattentees,  and  the  then  present  and  future  Freemen,  &c,  One 
Body  politick  and  Corporate  in  fact  and  name,  by  the  name  of,  His  Govemour  and 
Company  of  the  English  Colony  of  Connecticut  in  New  England  in  America,  and 
that  by  the  same  Name,  they  and  their  Successors  shall  and  may  haue  perpetual 
Succession.  .  .  .  But  now  you  are  not  such  a  Body  politick  and  Corporate,  capa- 
ble in  Law  as  aforesaid,  for  you  know  that  by  the  late  Transaction  between  his 
Majesty  and  his  then  Gouernour  and  Company  of  the  late  Colony  of  Connecticut 
the  Government  is  changed  and  taken  into  his  Majesties'  hands." 

As  it  proved,  this  was  only  a  brief  episode  in  the  history  of  Con- 
necticut, Not  far  from  the  time  when  Mr.  Bulkeley  was  writing  his 
letter  in  1689,  King  James  II.  was  driven  from  the  throne,  and  in  the 
reign  of  William  and  Mary,  that  succeeded,  there  was  no  disposition  to 
ply  these  tyrant  arts  against  New  England.  The  charter  ventured  out 
again  from  its  hiding-place,  clothed  with  all  its  beneficent  powers  and 
privileges  for  the  people.  For  nearly  one  hundred  years  after  this  at- 
tempt to  stifle  its  existence  it  stood  out  in  sight  of  all  men,  and  no- 
where, perhaps,  in  all  the  world,  could  a  people  be  found  more  intelli- 
gent, virtuous,  prosperous,  and  happy  than  those  who  lived  under  the 
protection  and  guidance  of  that  charter. 

The  charter  had  been  obtained,  and  it  was  as  ample  and  noble  as 
could  be  desired,  and  far  more  so  than  the  most  sanguine  mind  could 
have  expected.  The  charter  was  good,  and  was  safely  landed  on  our 
shores  in  the  autumn  of  1662.  But  the  great  question  now  was,  how  to 
bring  the  two  colonies,  legally  united  in  the  charter,  into  actual  and 
peaceable  union. 

It  was  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  a  storm  of  indignation  arose  in 
the  towns  under  the  New  Haven  jurisdiction.  The  colony  of  New  Haven 
was  the  smallest  of  the  four,  but  inferior  to  none  in  the  intelligence, 
culture,  wealth,  and  social  standing  of  her  families.  It  came  from 
England  later  than  the  others  and  was  selected  and  organized  with 
great  care.  That  its  corporate  existence  should  be  thus  suddenly  taken 
away  without  note  or  warning,  and  that  it  should  at  once  be  merged  in 
any  other  jurisdiction,  however  good  it  might  be,  was  more  than  human 
nature  could  quietly  and   patiently  bear. 

As  hinted  in  another  place,  this  merging  of  the  New  Haven  Colony 
was  perhaps  more  of  an  English  than  a  New  England  idea.  In  addi- 
tion to  other  motives  that  may  have  influencedJDharles  II.  and  his  min- 
isters, the  following  may  have  been  one.  The  New  Haven  magistrates 
and  people  had  been  more  active  than  those  of  any  other  colony  in 
feeding,  sheltering,  and  concealing  the  judges  who  had  tried  and  exe- 
cuted Charles  I.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  king's  officers  on  this  side  the 
water,  Messrs.  Kellond  and  Kirke  could  fail  to  know  that  the  men  they 
were  after  were  hidden  by  the  New  England  people,  and  chiefly,  as  things 

1  See  Collections  of  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  vol.  i.  p.  59. 


HARTFORD   COUNTY   CONSTITUTED.  61 

turned,  by  the  people  of  New  Haven.  No  thorough  New  Englander, 
then  or  now,  would  be  apt  to  lay  this  particular  sin  to  their  charge. 
But  Charles  II.  in  the  years  1660  and  1661,  trying  to  catch  the  men 
who  had  had  the  unheard-of  audacity  to  sit  in  solemn  tribunal  on  his 
royal  father  and  then  publicly  execute  him,  would  be  likely  to  regard 
this  whole  matter  in  a  very  different  light.  No  doubt  from  time  to  time 
he  had  heard  from  the  officers  in  pursuit  how  their  best-laid  plans  were 
foiled  by  the  people,  and  all  their  efforts  to  trace  and  arrest  the  fugitives 
brought  to  nought,  very  largely  through  the  magistrates  of  the  New 
Haven  Colony. 

But  at  last  the  long  public  contest  was  ended.  Trumbull,  in  his 
"History  of  Connecticut"1  tells  us  (and  the  testimony  is  more  valuable 
because  he  lived  and  wrote  within  the  bounds  of  the  old  New  Haven 
Colony)  that :  — 

"At  the  General  Election,  May  11,  1665,  when  the  two  colonies  of  Connect- 
icut and  New  Haven  united  in  one  ...  a  proportionable  number  of  the  magis- 
trates were  of  the  former  colony  of  New  Haven  ;  all  the  towns  sent  their  deputies ; 
and  the  Assembly  appears  to  have  been  entirely  harmonious.  .  .  .  The  union  of 
the  colonies  was  a  happy  one.  It  greatly  contributed  to  the  convenience,  strength, 
peace,  and  welfare  of  the  inhabitants  of  both,  and  of  their  posterity.  Greater 
privileges  New  Haven  could  not  have  enjoyed,  had  they  been  successful  in  their 
applications  to  his  Majesty." 

By  the  union  of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  the  territory  and  the 
population  were  so  increased  beyond  what  had  belonged  to  either  one 
before,  that  the  time  had  arrived  to  cast  the  State  into  four  subdivisions 
called  counties,  for  its  better  regulation  and  government.  This  business 
took  place  at  the  Court  of  Election  held  at  Hartford,  May  10, 1666,  when 
there  were  present  the  governor,  John  Winthrop  ;  the  deputy-governor, 
John  Mason;  twelve  assistants,  and  thirty-one  deputies.  Those  who 
had  before  been  called  Magistrates  were  now  under  the  new  charter 
called  Assistants. 

At  first  the  counties  were  four, — Hartford,  New  Haven,  New  London, 
and  Fairfield.     The  bounds  of  Hartford  County  were  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  Court  orders  that  the  Townes  on  the  Riuer  from  ye  north  bounds  of 
Windsor  wth  Farmington  to  ye  south  end  of  ye  bounds  of  Thirty  Miles  island 
shalbe  &  remaine  to  be  one  County  wch  shalbe  called  the  County  of  Hartford. 
And  it  is  ordered  that  the  County  Court  shalbe  kept  at  Hartford  on  the  1st  Thurs- 
day in  March,  and  on  the  first  Thursday  in  September  yearly."  J 

The  Thirty  Miles  Island,  so  called,  was  the  territory  now  occupied 
by  the  towns  of  Haddam  and  East  Haddam,  which  was  then  chiefly 
wild  and  unoccupied  land.  The  singular  name  it  bore  was  from  a  little 
island  in  the  river,  over  against  it,  which  was  reckoned  to  be  thirty 
miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river.  At  this  same  session  clerks  were 
appointed  for  these  several  counties ;  and  in  Hartford  County  the  ap- 
pointment fell  upon  Mr.  Daniel  Clarke,  who  for  a  long  course  of  years 
was  to  be  one  of  the  well-known  public  men  of  the  county.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  it  was  voted  that  the  County  Courts  shall  have  leave  to  "  chuse 
their  own  clarkes."     In  this  year  (1667)  there  were  nineteen  towns  in 

1  Vol.  i.  pp.  276,  277. 


62  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

the  several  counties  of  the  State,  and  the  total  valuation  of  the  estates 
showed  £144,398  Qs.  9d. 

In  the  same  session  of  the  General  Court  constituting  these  coun- 
ties it  was  ordered  :  — 

"  That  ye  Wills  and  Inventories  of  persons  deceased  wthin  any  of  the  Counties 
in  this  Colony  shalbe  exhibited  and  proued  at  ye  County  to  which  the  deceased 
did  appertaine  by  his  habitation.  And  the  said  County  Court  is  to  settle  the 
distribution  of  the  estate  to  the  legatees."2 

The  County  Courts  too  were  to  have  liberty  and  power  (but  not 
exclusive  power)  over  the  question  of  selling  liquor,  which  has  been 
one  of  the  most  difficult  questions  to  manage,  from  that  day  to  this : 

"  This  Court  grants  liberty  to  the  County  Courtes  in  the  respective  Countyes 
to  grant  lycense  to  any  particular  person  to  retale  wine  &  liqrs,  as  occation  shall 
require;  and  none  els  but  such  as  are  lycensed  by  the  Generall  Court  or  the  County 
Courtes,  without  a  ticket  from  the  Magistrate  of  the  place  where  they  hue,  shall 
haue  leaue  to  sell  by  retale  any  wine  or  liqrs." 

Other  functions  and  powers  were  lodged  with  these  county  organi- 
zations as  time  passed  on ;  these  were  their  chief  primitive  duties. 

1  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut,  vol.  ii:  p.  34.  2  Ibid.,  p.  39. 


&U* 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE    COLONIAL    PERIOD. 


SECTION    I. 

THE  ANDBOS   GOVERNMENT.  — THE   CHARTER   AND    THE 
CHARTER  OAK. 

BY    SHERMAX    W.    ADAMS. 

CONNECTICUT'S  Charter  of  1662  was  more  favorable  to  its  grantees 
than  the  Charter  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  of  1629,  had  been  to  the 
latter  colony.  The  document,  in  the  form  of  letters-patent,  for 
Connecticut,  gave  to  John  Winthrop,  and  to  his  associates  therein  named, 
and  to  those  who  should  thereafter  be  "  made  free  of  the  Company  and 
Society  of  our  Collony  of  Conecticut  in  America,"  general  and  exclusive 
governmental  powers,  —  such  as  the  right  to  organize  and  maintain  a 
house  of  Deputies,  and  to  establish  courts ;  the  corporation  having  the 
right  to  execute  its  powers  on  the  soil  of  Connecticut.  In  Massachu- 
setts it  was  always  a  question  whether  the  corporate  powers  must  not 
be  executed  in  England,  where  the  office  of  the  "  Council  at  Plymouth" 
was,  from  whom  the  colony  received  its  deed.  The  grant  of  the  soil 
of  that  colony  was  to  the  Charter  grantees  and  their  assigns;  while 
the  powers  of  government  were  conferred  upon  the  corporation  and  its 
successors.  No  power  was  expressly  given  to  Massachusetts  to  estab- 
lish courts  of  law,  nor  had  it  admiralty  jurisdiction.  Connecticut, 
however,  was,  as  Chalmers  expresses  it,1  a  "  pure  Democracy  ;  since  the 
freemen  exercised  without  restraint  every  power,  deliberative  and  ex- 
ecutive." Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  he  says,  were  "  two  little 
republics,  embosomed  within  a  great  empire." 

The  most  active  and  unscrupulous  agent  for  the  revocation  of  the 
colonial  charters  of  New  England  was  Edward  Randolph,  the  collector 
of  His  Majesty's  customs  in  New  England,  and  deputy  auditor-general 
of  revenues  in  America.  He  it  was  who  framed  the  "  charges  "  whereon 
writs  of  quo  warranto  were  based,  against  the  colonial  governments. 
He  crossed  the  ocean  many  times  in  pursuance  of  his  purpose.  Two 
such  writs  were  served  upon  Massachusetts,  both  of  which  were  aban- 
doned ;  and  a  writ  of  scire  facias  was  finally  brought  to  the  High  Court 
of  Chancery  in  England ;  whereon,  in  October,  1684,  a  decree  was  ob- 
tained, annulling  and  vacating  the  Charter.  This  was  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.     In  the  following  February  James  II.  became  king.     The 

1  Introduction  to  the  "History  of  the  Revolt  of  the  American  Colonies." 


64  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

last  election  under  the  Massachusetts  Charter  occurred  in  May,  1686. 
In  the  same  month  Joseph  Dudley,  the  Royal  President  of  the  new 
government,  arrived.  His  territory  included  Massachusetts,  New 
Hampshire,  and  Maine  ;  and  Boston  became  the  seat  of  government  for 
all  the  provinces. 

Sir  Edmond  Andros  arrived,  bearing  a  royal  commission  as  Gov- 
ernor of  New  England,  Dec.  19,1686.    He  had  been  a  major  as  early  as 
1666,  in  the  war  against  the  Dutch,  in  New  York ;  in 

#1672  he  was  major  of  Prince  Rupert's  Dragoons,  and 
in  1674-1681,  Governor  of  New  York,  having  in  the 
mean  time  been  made  a  Knight,  while  on  a  visit 
to  England.  From  1681  to  1686  he  had  remained 
in  England,  where  he  had  been  a  lieutenant-colonel 
of  horse,  and  had  commanded  a  troop  of  horse 
against  the  rebellious  Duke  of  Monmouth. 
We  cannot  here  recount  the  doings  of  Andros 
as  Governor  of  New  England ;  but  it  may  be  said, 
generally,  that  he,  like  Randolph,  was  particularly 
offensive  to  the  Puritan  element.  He  compelled  them  to  open  their 
houses  of  worship  for  the  holding  of  services  according  to  the 
forms  of  the  Church  of  England.  Concerning  the  advent  of  Andros  to 
Connecticut,  much  more  than  can  be  stated  here  will  be  found  in 
Vol.  I.  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull's  "  History  of  Connecticut;"  in  Vol. 
III.  of  J.  Hammond  Trumbull's  "Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut;" 
and  in  the  unpublished  document,  entitled  "  Will  and  Doom ;  or,  the 
Miseries  of  Connecticut,"  written  in  1692  by  the  Rev.  Gershom  Bulkeley. 
Edward  Randolph  had  been  obnoxious  to  Connecticut  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  official  duties.  He  had  also  been  the  agent  of  the 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Hamilton,  when  in  1683  they  had  laid  claim  to 
that  part  of  Connecticut  east  of  the  river.  In  July,  1685,  he  prepared, 
for  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Plantations,  "  Articles  of  High  Mis- 
demeanors against  the  Governor  and  Company  of  Connecticut;"  that 
being  the  corporate  name  of  the  colony.  The  "  charges,"  six  in  num- 
ber, may  be  summarized  thus :  first,  the  general  one,  that  the  colony 
had  "  made  laws  contrary  to  the  realm  of  England  ; "  second,  that  fines 
were  converted  to  the  colonial  treasury  ;  third,  that  an  oath  of  fidelity, 
and  not  of  allegiance,  was  required  from  inhabitants  ;  fourth,  that  exer- 
cise of  the  religion  of  the  Church  of  England  was  denied ;  fifth,  that 
justice  could  not  be  obtained  in  the  courts ;  sixth,  that  loyalists  were 
excluded  from  office,  and  the  power  kept  in  the  hands  of  "  the  inde- 
pendent party."  These  accusations  were  made  in  order  to  justify  the 
issue  of  a  writ  of  quo  warranto  against  Connecticut ;  the  object  being 
• 

1  "  The  seal  used  by  Sir  Edmond  Andros  while  Governor  of  New  England  (a  fine  impres- 
sion of  which  is  preserved  on  the  commission  to  Governor  Threat  as  Colonel)  hears —  quarterly, 
first  and  fourth  on  a  chevron,  between  three  leopards'  faces,  as  many  castles  triple  towered 
[for  the  seigniory  of  Sausmarez]  ;  second  and  third,  a  saltire  voided,  on  a  chief  three  mullets. 
Crest,  a  falcon  affrontant,  wings  expanded.  Supporters  :  dexter,  a  unicorn,  gorged  ;  sinister,  a 
greyhound,  tail  cowarded,  gorged.  The  motto  is  not  legible.  That  of  the  family  of  Sausmarez 
(to  which  the  crest  and  supporters  belong)  is  '  In  Deo  Spero  '  (Burke's  Armory).  The  bear- 
ings of  the  second  and  third  quarters  are  given  by  Burke  as  those  of  Andrewes  of  London, 
and  Andrews  of  Doddington.  The  arms  of  the  Andros  of  Guernsey  (to  which  Sir  Edmond 
belonged)  are  described  in  Berry's  '  History  of  Guernsey  '  (p.  138)  as  'a  chevron  between  three 
pelicans  vulning  themselves.'  "  —  Dr.  J.  H.  Trumbull's  Note  to  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut, 
iii.  392. 


THE   ANDROS    GOVERNMENT.  65 

to  make  that  colony  a  province  to  be  subject  to  the  government  to  be 
established  at  Boston. 

On  Randolph's  charges,  the  Privy  Council  recommended  that  the 
King  direct  his  Attorney-General  to  prosecute  such  a  writ.  In  July, 
1685,  two  writs  of  quo  warranto  were  issued.  Both  were  served  to- 
gether, a  year  later,  by  Randolph  ;  the  service  being  upon  Robert  Treat, 
Governor ;  Captain  John  Allyn,  Secretary ;  and  Major  John  Talcott, 
one  of  the  Assistants  of  the  General  Court.  The  service  was,  of  course, 
defective  ;  the  return-day  of  the  process  having  already  elapsed.  William 
Whiting  (son  of  William,  a  Hartford  gentleman)  was  then  a  merchant  in 
London,   and    Connecticut's   agent       ^,       s?  ? 

there.  To  him  Governor  Treat  JDrfjyyf-  ^^rr^lA-  -i  v 
wrote,  acquainting  him  with  these  I  /  *s 

facts  and  authorizing  him  to  procure  V — 

defence  against  the  suits.  A  petition  was  also  sent  in  August,  1686,  to 
the  King,  praying  that  the  privileges  of  the  colony  be  not  taken  away. 
No  action  was  had  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  upon  these  writs.  In 
December,  1686,  a  third  writ  was  served  upon  Governor  Treat,  requiring 
the  colony  to  appear  in  answer  thereto  in  the  following  February.  With 
the  service  of  this  writ,  December  28th,  a  letter  from  Governor  Andros 
was  delivered,  announcing  that  the  King  had  authorized  him  to  receive 
"  the  surrender  of  the  charter,  if  tendered"  by  Governor  Treat.  Nei- 
ther then  nor  afterward  did  Governor  Treat  offer  to  surrender  that 
instrument.  But  in  January,  1687,  Andros  was  informed  by  him,  by 
order  of  the  General  Court,  that  Mr.  Whiting  had  been  empowered,  in 
the  colony's  behalf,  to  defend  against  this  latest  writ.  It  was  added 
that  the  colony  desired  "  to  continue  in  the  same  station ; "  but  that  it 
would,  "  as  in  duty  bound,  submit  to  His  Majesty's  royal  commands  ;" 
and  that,  if  compelled  to  join  any  other  colonies,  it  would  prefer  those 
under  Andros. 

This  answer  was  made  the  pretext,  by  some  of  Andros's  adherents 
(as,  for  instance,  Gershom  Bulkeley),  for  the  claim  that  Connecticut 
"  consented  "  to  the  surrender  of  her  Charter.  But  Andros  himself  did 
not  so  construe  it ;  for  he  continued,  until  June,  1687,  to  urge  the 
colony's  submission  to  his  authority.  Finally,  Oct.  22,  1687,  he  wrote 
to  Governor  Treat  that  he  had  "  received  effectuall  orders  and  com- 
mands from  his  Matie  for  Connecticut,  annexed  to  this  [Boston]  Gov- 
ernment." He  further  stated  his  resolve  to  be  "  att  Hartford  abk  the  end 
of  next  weeke,  pursuant  thereunto,"  etc. 

Judge  Sewall's  Diary,  under  date  of  Oct.  26,  1687,  says :  — 

"  His  Excellency,  with  sundry  of  the  Council,  Justices,  and  other  Gentlemen, 
four  Blew-Coats,  two  Trumpeters  (Sam.  Bligh  one),  15  or  20  Red-Coats,  with 
small  Guns,  and  short  Lances  in  the  tops  of  them-*- set  forth  for  Woodcock's 
[Woodcock's  tavern,  in  what  is  now  Attleborongh,  Mass.],  in  order  to  goe  to 
Connecticut,  to  assume  the  Government  of  that  place." 

Andros,  m  fact,  set  out  at  this  date,  coming  by  way  of  Providence 
and  New  London,  and  crossing  the  river  at  Wethersfield  ferry,  later 
known  as  Pratt's  ferry.  At  the  latter  point,  to  quote  from  Mr.  Bulke- 
ley's  "  Will  and  Doom,"  he  arrived 

"On  Monday,  October  31,  1687,  with  divers  of  the  members  of  his  Council, 
and  other  gentl.  attending  him,  and  with  his  guard ;  came  to  Hartford,  where  he 

VOL.   I.  —  5. 


66  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


GOVERXOR    ANDROS. 

was  received  with  all  respect,  and  welcome  congratulation  ;"  etc.  "The  troop  of 
horse  of  that  county  conducted  him  honorably,  from  the  ferry,  through  Wethers- 
field,  up  to  Hartford ;  where  the  trained  bands  of  divers  towns  .  .  .  united  to 
pay  their  respects  at  his  coming." 

The  county  troop  was  at  that  time  commanded  by  Captain  Samuel 
Talcott,  of  Wethersfield ;  and  it  is  not  probable  that  he  bad  much 
"  respect "  for  the  Andros  government,  for  he  had  furnished  money  to 
aid  in  defending  against  it.     But  Bulkeley,  though  undoubtedly  honest, 

colored  his  account,  as  a  partisan  of  An- 
dros naturally  would. 

At  Hartford,  the  same  day,  Andros, 
according  to  Bulkeley,  was  escorted  to  the 
"  Court  Chamber  "  (on  the  second  floor  of 
the  Meeting-House),  where,  taking  the  "  Governor's  seat,"  he  caused  his 
commission  to  be  publicly  read,  and  made  proclamation  of  his  assumption 


W% 


THE  CHARTER  AND  THE  CHARTER  OAK.         67 

of  the  government.  He  then  made  the  Governor  and  the  Secretary  mem- 
bers of  his  Council,  and  administered  to  them  the  oath  of  office.  The 
record  of  the  General  Court  shows  that  the  meeting  was  a  special  session 
of  that  body,  "  by  order  of  the  Governor."  Upon  the  conclusion  of  the 
proceedings,  Secretary  Allyn  closed  the  record  with  this  entry :  — 

"  His  Excelency,  Sr  Edmond  Andross,  Knt,  Capt.  Generall  &  Govr  of  his 
Maties  Teritorie  &  Dominion  in  New  England,  by  order  from  his  Matic  James  the 
second,  King  of  England,  Scotland,  France  &  Ireland,  the  31  of  October,  1687, 
took  into  his  hands  the  Government  of  this  Colony  of  Conecticott ;  it  being  by 
his  Matie  annexed  to  the  Massachusetts,  &■  other  colonys  under  his  Excelencies 
Government. 


Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull's  version  of  the  proceedings  at  Hartford 
(History  of  Connecticut,  vol.  i.  p.  890)  is  very  different  from  Mr. 
Bulkeley's  ;  but  he  had  not  seen  the  latter.  He  says  that  Andros  was 
accompanied  by  more  than  sixty  "regular  troops;"  that  he  demanded 
the  Charter,  and  declared  the  government  under  it  dissolved.  During 
the  conference  between  the  royal  and  the  colonial  Governor,  — 

"  the  Charter  was  brought  in  and  laid  upon  the  table,  where  the  Assembly 
was  sitting.  .  .  .  The  lights  were  instantly  extinguished,  and  one  Captain  [Jo- 
seph] Wadsworth,  of  Hartford,  in  the  most  silent  and  secret  manner,  carried  off 
the  Charter,  and  secreted  it  in  a  hollow  tree,  fronting  the  house  of  the  Honorable 
Samuel  Wyllys,  then  one  of  the  magistrates  of  the  colon}7.  The  people  appeared 
all  peaceable  and  orderly.  The  candles  were  officiously  relighted ;  but  the  patent 
was  gone,  and  no  discovery  could  be  made  of  it,  or  of  the  person  who  had  con- 
veyed it  away.  Sir  Edmond  assumed  the  government,  and  the  records  of  the 
colony  were  closed,  in  the  following  words  "  :  — 

And  he  quotes  the  entry  we  have  recited  above.  The  latter  version 
accords  with  the  ancient  tradition.  Captain  Wadsworth  was  a  brother 
of  John  Wadsworth,  one  of  the  Assistants  present,  from  Farmington. 

What  is  certain  is,  that  the  Charter  was  never  surrendered ;  and, 
indeed,  there  never  was  any  decree  ordering  its  surrender  or  annulling 
it.  No  such  order  could  have  been  made  upon  the  quo  warranto  ;  and 
a  judgment  of  that  kind  would  not  have  been  responsive  to  the  writ  or 
its  demands. 

Andros  may  or  may  not  have  been  a  "  usurper  "  in  Massachusetts, 
whose  charter  had  been  annulled  under  a  scire  facias.  At  Hartford  his 
government  was  that  of  a  usurper;  for  he  had  no  judicial  warrant  for 
the  exercise  of  authority  there,  and  he  exceeded  the  very  doubtful  au- 
thority granted  by  the  King.  He  abolished  the  General  Court  and  the 
Court  of  Assistants,  and  he  set  up  new  tribunals  in  their  stead.  He 
established  a  Superior  Court,  Courts  of  General  Sessions,  and  Courts  of 
Common  Pleas.  He  commissioned  judges  and  justices  of  the  peace. 
Allyn,  who  had  been  Judge  of  the  County  Court  for  Hartford  County, 
was  made  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court.  The  Assistants  of  the 
General  Court  were  made  Justices  ;  as  were  also  some  others,  including 
Gershom  Bulkcley.  He  commissioned  Governor  Treat  to  be  Colonel  of 
Militia  ;  and  evidently  sought  to  placate  officials  whom  he  had  removed, 
by  placing  them  in  new  offices.  His  Council  at  Boston  enacted  laws  for 
the  government  of  Connecticut  until  the  revolution  of  1689. 


68  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

With  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne,  the  charter 
government  was  resumed,  in  May,  1689 ;  Andros  and  Randolph  having 
been  arrested  and  deposed  in  April  of  that  year.  In  170-1  Governor 
Dudley,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Lord  Cornbury,  Governor  of  New  York, 
made  futile  efforts  to  have  the  Charter  revoked.  That  instrument  re- 
mained in  force,  so  far  as  Connecticut  chose  to  have  it,  until  the  adop- 
tion of  our  Constitution. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  the  Hon.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  the  writer 
is  enabled  to  mention  some  of  the  doings  of  the  courts  of  the  Andros 
government  in  Hartford  County.  The  original  records  of  those  courts 
are  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Trumbull,  to  whom  they  were  presented  by 
the  late  Thomas  G.  Talcott,  Esq.  They  were  among  the  "  Talcott 
papers,"  and  have  never  been  published.  They  are  in  twenty-five  closely 
written  folio  pages. 

The  first  Court  of  Sessions  held  at  Hartford  was  begun  on  March 
5,  1687-8.  The  "  Justices  "  present  were  :  Lieutenant-Colonel  John 
Talcott,  Humphrey  Davie,  and  Samuel  Wyllys,  of  Hartford ;  Gershom 
Bulkeley,  Samuel  Talcott,  and  John  Chester,  of  Wethersfield  ;  Benja- 
min Newberry,  of  Windsor ;  John  Wadsworth,  of  Farmington  ;  and  Giles 
Hamlin,  of  Middletown.  Mr.  Davie  had  lived  in  Boston,  but  was  of 
Hartford  at  the  date  of  his  decease,  Feb.  18,  1688-9.  He  was  a 
brother  of  Sir  John  Davie,  of  Creedy,  County  of  Devon,  England ;  to 
whom  his  son  John,  of  Groton,  Conn.,  succeeded  as  heir  to  the  baronial 
estate  and  title. 

The  Grand  Jury  consisted  of :  Nathaniel  Stanley  and  Joseph  Wads- 
worth,  of  Hartford  ;  James  Steele,  Sr.,  William  Burnham,  and  John 
Chester,  (Jr.  ?),  of  Wethersfield  ;  and  John  Bissell,  John  Moore,  Return 
Strong,  and  Nathaniel  Loomis,  of  Windsor.  A  marshal  attended  upon 
the  court. 

The  first  case  tried  was  a  prosecution  of  "  Mr.  Joseph  Mallison  "  (?), 
for  assaulting  Stephen  Chester,  of  Wethersfield.  Several  other  prose- 
cutions were  tried.  Packers  and  gaugers,  cullers  (of  fish),  and  sealers 
of  weights  and  measures  were  appointed  for  Hartford,  Windsor,  Weth- 
ersfield, Middletown,  Farmington,  Haddam,  Waterbury,  and  Simsbury. 

A  session  of  the  Inferior  Court  of  Pleas  was  begun  on  the  8th  of 
March,  1687-8.  At  this  court  John  Allyn  was  the  judge  ;  and  the  Jus- 
tices above  mentioned  (excepting  Davie)  were  his  associates  on  the 
bench.  Several  civil  causes  were  tried,  and  some  wills  were  probated. 
Justice  Davie  was  present  in  April  and  May.  Another  Court  of  Sessions 
was  begun  June  5,  1688.  At  this  term,  besides  the  trial  of  causes, 
commissioners  and  constables  were  appointed  for  some  of  the  towns, 
and  probate  matters  were  attended  to.  A  special  session  was  held 
June  19,  and  a  Court  of  Pleas  the  same  day,  with  Allyn  as  judge. 
Another  term  of  the  Court  of  Sessions  was  begun  September  4.  This 
was  a  general  session.  Special  sessions  were  held  September  11  and 
18.  In  the  following  February  and  March  there  were  sessions  of  the 
Court  of  Pleas,  the  last  one  having  been  on  March  7,  1688-9.  Suits 
and  prosecutions  were  tried,  and  wills  were  probated.  Several  wills 
are  recorded  in  extenso.  Ferry-keepers  (for  Lyme  and  Wethersfield) 
and  taverners  were  licensed. 

The  territory  over  which  jurisdiction  was  conferred  by  the  Charter 
was  bounded  northerly  by  Massachusetts,  easterly  by  "  Narrogancett 


y 


THE  CHARTER  AND  THE  CHARTER  OAK 


1 


River,''  southerly  "by  the  Sea,"  and  westerly  by  "the  South  Sea." 
This  last-mentioned  limit  was,  in  later  times,  construed  by  Connecticut 
to  be  the  Pacific  Ocean;  but  it  is  probable  that  the  Crown  had  no  idea 
of  the  vastness  of  the  extent  westerly.  The  tenure  was  >k  in  free  and 
common  socage ;"  which,  practically,  was  as  good  as  a  fee-simple.  The 
instrument  was  written  upon  three  skins,  or  pieces  of  parchment  ;  at 


THE    rilARTKR    OAK. 


the  beginning  of  the  first  of  which  is  a  finely  executed  drawing  of  the 
head  of  Charles  I.  There  was  originally  suspended  from  the  foot  of 
the  document  an  immense  waxen  seal;  but  it  long  ago  crumbled  to 
pieces.  The  whole  was  encased  in  a  box,  the  wood  of  which  resembles 
that  of  the  Scotch  fir.  The  box  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  ( 'onnect  i- 
cut  Historical  Society.  The  charter  may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  State,  in  the  Capitol,  enclosed  in  a  carved  frame,  part 
of  which  is  of  wood  of  the  old  tree  itself. 

The  tree  stood  upon  land  on  the  homestead  of  the  celebrated  Wyllys 
family,  until  1827,  when  the  place  became  the  property  of  Stephen  Bulke- 
ley,  a  descendant  of  that  Gershom  Bulkeley  who  had  shown  so  much  dis- 
respect for  the  Charter.  In  1840  the  property  descended  to  Bulkeley's 
daughter,  Catharine,  the  wife  of  the  Hon.  Isaac  \V.  Stuart.  This  gen- 
tleman did  all  that  could  be  done  to  preserve  the  venerable  oak,  and 
remained  the  keeper  of  it  until  its  prostration,  which  occurred  in  a  high 
wind,  Aug.  21,  1856.  From  its  wood  thousands  of  small  articles  were 
made, including  "nutmegs,"  and  larger  productions  were  not  uncommon. 
Among  the  latter  may  be  mentioned  the  chair  of  the  presiding  officer  of 


72  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

the  Connecticut  Senate.  It  was  designed  by  a  son  of  Governor  A.  H. 
Hollev,  and  carved  by  one  Vigneaux,  a  Frenchman.  Several  seedlings 
from  the  tree  are  known  to  exist ;  two  of  which,  one  a  fine  and  thrifty 
specimen,  are  growing  on  Bushnell  Park.  The  species  is  the  common 
white  oak  (Quercus  alba  of  botanists),  and  is  one  of  slow  growth.  The 
parent  tree  is  said  to  have  been  twenty-one  feet  in  circumference  at 
a  height  of  seven  feet  from  the  ground.  And  it  is  also  said  that,  in  the 
presence  of  Mr.  Stuart,  twenty-one  persons  occupied  its  cavity  at  a  time. 
Near  its  base  the  breadth  of  the  trunk  was  very  much  greater  than  at 
the  height  of  a  person's  head.  A  careful  computation,  made  by  Pro- 
fessor John  Brocklesby  while  the  tree  was  prostrate,  fixed  its  age  at 
a  little  less  than  a  thousand  years.  A  marble  tablet  marks  the  spot 
whereon  the  old  oak  stood. 

Many  facts  concerning  the  Charter  Oak,  and  the  various  representa- 
tions, oii  canvas  and  paper,  which  have  been  made  of  it,  will  be  found 
in  the  recently  published  monograph  on  the  subject,  by  Mr.  William  1. 
Fletcher,  lately  assistant-librarian  of  the  Watkinson  Library.  One  of 
the  most  valuable  views,  in  a  historical  sense,  is  a  small  painting,  made 
by  George  Francis,  in  1818,  for  Mr.  Daniel  Wadsworth.  Mr.  Charles 
De  Wolf  Browncll,  about  1855,  made  several  sketches  and  oil-paintings 
of  the  tree,  the  finest  of  which  is  owned  by  the  heirs  of  the  late  Gov- 
ernor Marshall  Jewell.  The  Francis  painting,  and  several  other  views, 
are  in  the  rooms  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society. 


iSAAu^w 


GENERAL  HISTORY  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  73 


SECTION    III 

GENERAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  COUNTY  TO   THE  END   OF 
THE   REVOLUTIONARY   WAR. 

BY   MISS    MARY   K.    TALCOTT. 

The  history  of  the  County  of  Hartford  during  this  period  must 
relate  very  largely  to  the  wars  in  which  the  English  colonies  were 
involved  with  the  French  and  Indians.  The  very  existence  of  the 
colonies  was  often  menaced,  and  every  able-bodied  man  bore  his  share 
in  the  incessant  conflicts  rendered  necessary  by  the  unceasing  hostility 
of  the  savage  foe  and  the  ambitious  projects  of  the  French.  The  Colony 
of  Connecticut  sent  men  both  to  Albany  and  New  York  to  assist  the 
inhabitants  in  repelling  the  assaults  of  the  savage  bands  despatched 
by  Count  Frontenac  to  ravage  their  borders.  Captain  Jonathan  Bull, 
afterward  sergeant-major  of  Hartford  County,  went  with  his  company 
from  Hartford  to  Albany,  in  1689,  to  aid  in  the  defence  of  that  region, 
and  in  the  following  winter  his  troop  was  among  the  number  surprised 
by  the  French  at  Schenectady.  His  lieutenant,  one  sergeant,  and 
three  privates  were  killed  in  that  massacre,  and  five  men  were  cap- 
tured. This  attack,  and  the  one  made  shortly  after  on  Salmon  Falls, 
on  the  Connecticut  River,  caused  great  alarm  in  New  England,  and 
constant  watchfulness  was  required  of  all.  More  troops  were  sent  to 
Albany,  and  also  to  the  settlements  in  Massachusetts  on  the  Connecti- 
cut. These  settlements  were  quite  as  dependent  upon  Connecticut, 
especially  Hartford  County,  as  upon  the  people  of  the  Bay,  for  assist- 
ance in  time  of  danger.  In  1693  Sir  William  Pliipps  asked  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  to  aid  in  protecting  the  eastern  settlements  in  Maine 
and  Massachusetts ;  and  a  company  of  sixty  Englishmen  and  forty 
Indians  was  sent,  commanded  by  Colonel  William  Whiting. 

In  October,  1696,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stoddard,  Captain  Patrick,  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Williams  appealed  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut 
for  a  speedy  supply  of  forty  or  fifty  men  for  defence.  In  response, 
forty  men  were  raised  in  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Windsor,  under 
command  of  Lieutenant  Stephen  Hollister,  to  march  with  all  possible 
speed  to  Deerfield. 

The  Peace  of  Ryswick,  in  1697,  gave  a  much  needed  repose  to  the 
colonists,  who  had  spent  freely  their  blood  and  money  to  repel  their 
fierce  and  crafty  enemy.  Notwithstanding  the  strain  and  depletion 
caused  by  these  wars  and  rumors  of  wars,  the  people  increased  in 
numbers  ;  and  in  1690  the  oldest  town  in  the  colony,  Wethersfield,  was 
divided,  that  part  of  it  lying  east  of  the  Great  River  being  made  a 
town,  and  called  Glastonbury.  This  was  the  first  division  of  any 
of  the  old  townships  in  the  county,  but  it  was  the  precursor  of  many 
more. 

The  records  of  the  county  court  for  this  period  show  with  what 


74  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

vigilance  the  magistrates  watched  over  the  manners  and  morals  of  the 
inhabitants.  They  were  jealous  of  their  own  dignity,  and  rigorously 
punished  all  contempt  of  their  authority.  April  9,  1690,  Samuel  Gay- 
lord  was  fined  20s.  for  disobeying  Mr.  Henry  Wolcott's  commands  to 
stay  before  him  in  court ;  and  on  the  28th  of  November,  the  same 
year,  Benjamin  Crane  was  fined  =£15  for  speaking  ill  of  the  authori- 
ties, also  to  give  a  <£50  bond  for  good  behavior.  His  grievous  offence 
consisted  in  calling  the  magistrates  a  company  of  "  forsworn  wretches," 
and  saying  "  that  their  authority  was  neither  of  the  King  nor  of  God, 
but  of  the  Devil."  In  1706,  Captain  Joseph  "Wadsworth,  well  known 
in  tradition  as  the  preserver  of  the  charter,  was  fined  5s.  for  hot-headed 
remarks  in  court  and  hasty  reflections  on  the  judges.  The  same  year 
Bevil  Waters,  of  Hartford,  was  indicted  for  "  cursing  the  court,"  — 
having  said,  after  a  judgment  had  been  rendered  against  him,  "  God 
bless  you  over  the  left  shoulder." 

Many  persons  were  presented  before  the  court  for  not  attending 
public  worship,  and  5s.  was  the  ordinary  fine ;  though  occasionally, 
when  there  were  aggravating  circumstances,  the  fine  was  increased. 
Philip  Goffe,  of  Hartford,  and  his  wife  Naomi,  when  accused  of  absent- 
ing themselves  from  public  worship,  made  their  defence,  "  that  in  their 
Conscience  they  could  not,  nor  would  they,  go  to  meeting  on  the  Sab- 
bath day."  For  this  bold  declaration  they  were  fined  20s.  Profanity 
was  heavily  fined,  10s.  being  the  ordinary  rate.  Drunkenness  was  much 
more  common,  the  Indians  being  frequent  offenders  in  spite  of  the 
rigorous  precautions  adopted  to  prevent  them  from  obtaining  liquor. 
The  English  also  succumbed  to  the  influence  of  intoxicating  drinks 
even  on  solemn  occasions ;  for,  on  the  5th  of  April,  1698,  George 
Haines  was  fined  10s.,  or  to  sit  in  the  stocks  two  hours,  for  being 
4runk  at  Jonathan  Dibble's  funeral. 

A  tavern  in  Hartford  was  kept  by  Disbrow  Spencer,  and  his  hospi- 
tality appears  to  have  been  accompanied  by  many  discreditable  inci- 
dents. Playing  at  cards  was  forbidden  by  law,  but  Spencer  allowed  it 
in  his  house  on  the  sly;  and  Oct.  11,1703,  when  the  soldiers  were 
come  together  from  the  adjoining  towns  for  training,  a  brawl  occurred 
in  the  night  between  Joseph  Grant  and  Richard  Tudor,  caused  by  a 
disagreement  at  cards.  When  they  were  tried,  John  Butler  testified 
that  he  saw  them  playing  cards  for  money,  and  that  there  was  plenty 
of  drink  to  be  had  in  the  house.  Grant  was  fined  20s.  for  playing 
cards,  10s.  more  for  unseasonable  company-keeping ;  and  Spencer  had 
to  pay  10s.  for  entertaining  at  unseasonable  hours.  Three  years  later 
this  same  Disbrow  Spencer  was  again  brought  before  the  Court,  this 
time  as  a  duellist.  He  and  Henry  Merry,  of  Lyme,  having  a  quarrel, 
challenged  each  other  to  meet  with  swords  at  the  common  landing- 
place  in  Hartford,  there  to  decide  their  differences  by  force  of  arms. 
The  complaint  was  not  proved,  and  they  were  discharged  ;  so  Hartford 
can  hardly  compete  with  Boston  for  the  honor  of  the  first  duel  in 
New  England. 

Besides  punishing  the  sins  of  the  people,  the  court  also  directed 
them  whither  to  look  for  spiritual  aid.  Sept.  5,  1702,  on  account  of 
the  prevalence  of  "  Epidemicall "  diseases  in  this  county,  and  also  of 
the  continuance  of  the  drought,  the  ministers  and  congregations  were 
recommended  to  keep  the  24th  of  September  as  a  "day  of  humiliation 


GENERAL  HISTORY  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  REVOLUTION,  76 

and  prayer  to  Almighty  God,  that  he  would  look  in  mercy  upon  us  his 

Wilderness  people." 

The  intimate  connection  between  Church  and  State  broughl  eccle- 
siastical matters  occasionally  before  the  Court,  the  payment  oi  the 
rates  being  made  very  unwillingly  in  some  eases:  and  the  liberty  of  the 
inhabitants  to  leave  one  church  in  Hartford  and  go  to  the  Other  was 
questioned. 

In  1698  William  Whiting  was  Bigh  Sheriff, and  under  his  direction 
a  new  prison-house  was  ordered  to  be  built  in  Hartford.  The  Sheriff 
of  Hartford  County  was  then  a  very  important  official,  almost  next  to 
the  Governor  in  dignity,  and  the  position  was  usually  hold  by  some 
prominent  man.  Colonel  Whiting  held  the  office  for  many  years,  also 
represented  Hartford  in  the  General  Assembly,  and  frequently  Led 
the  colonial  troops  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars.  In  1 70S  he 
received  from  the  Assembly  the  sum  <A  £30  iov  his  good  services  in 
the  county  of  Hampshire,  and  in  this  colony.  Ee  was  a  son  oi  the 
Rev.  John  Whiting,  minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Eartford,  after- 
ward first  pastor  of  the  Second  Church.  This  family  is  prominent  in 
our  military  annals,  and  many  of  its  members  held  high  civil  positions. 

The  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  in  Europe,  in  L702,  again  set 
the  colonists  in  battle  array.  As  usual,  a  requisition  was  made  from 
Massachusetts  for  aid,  and  a  committee  of  war  was  appointed  with 
plenary  powers  to  send  troops  into  Massachusetts  and  tin1  frontier 
towns  of  Connecticut.  Jan.  1,  170-1,  four  hundred  men  were  ordered 
to  be  raised  by  the  committee,  to  be  in  readiness  upon  any  sudden 
occurrence,  to  have  12s.  per  week,  furnishing  themselves  with  arms, 
ammunition,  snow-shoes,  and  Indian  shoes.  The  committee  of  war 
for  this  county  consisted  of  Nathaniel  Stanly,  Esq.,  of  Eartford,  Mr. 
William  Pitkin  of  East  Hartford,  Major  John  Chester  of  Wethers- 
field,  Major  William  Whiting  of  Hartford,  Captain  Cyprian  Nichols 
of  Hartford,  Captain  Matthew  Ally n  of  Windsor,  and  Captain  Aaron 
Cook  of  Hartford,1  —  all  prominent  men  in  the  colony.  In  1707  the 
colonists  were  again  alarmed  by  rumors  of  another  French  and  Indian 
invasion,  and  on  the  6th  of  February  a  council  of  war  was  convened  at 
Hartford,  the  governor  and  principal  military  men  of  the  colony  being 
present.  Measures  of  defence  were  organized,  more  especially  against 
the  Indians  within  our  borders.  The  sum  of  £50  was  allowed  out,  of 
the  treasury  for  procuring  dogs,  in  the  northern  frontier  towns,  "to 
hunt  after  the  Indian  enemy;"  and  the  committee  of  war  in  Eart- 
ford County  were  directed  to  obtain  as  many  dogs  as  that  sum  would 
allow,  to  be  always  ready  for  the  service.  Indian  methods  of  warfare 
were  adopted  in  allying  the  savages  with  the  colonial  soldiers.  A 
scouting-party  was  sent  out,  in  1710,  towards  "the  lake,"3  consisting 
of  four  or  five  Englishmen  and  sixty  Indians  ;  and  they  wen',  to  receive 
from  the  treasury  £10  for  each  scalp  they  should  bring  in. 

In  1711  a  large  expedition  for  the  reduction  of  Canada  was  raised, 
and  sanguine  expectations  were  cherished  of  its  .success.  A  general 
fast  was  appointed  throughout  the  colony,  Aug.  15,  1711,  to  be  followed 
by  fasts  on  the  last  Thursday  of  every  month  "until  the  present 
expedition  to  Canada  be  ended."     The  major  of  Hartford  County  was 

1  Colonial  Records,  vol.  iv.  p.  21.  2  Lake  Georgfc 


/6  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

directed,  Dec.  27, 1711,  to  impress  men  for  service  in  Hampshire  County, 
if  they  did  not  offer ;  a  scouting-party  being  needed,  to  be  posted  on 
some  eminence  above  Deerfield  for  the  discovery  of  the  enemy. 

The  Peace  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  gave  the  wearied  colonists  a  res- 
pite from  fighting,  which  they  improved  by  devoting  themselves  with 
energy  to  the  occupation  and  subduing  of  the  wilderness  which  sur- 
rounded them  on  every  side. 

The  people  of  Hartford  and  Windsor  had  begun  even  earlier  to 
plan  new  townships  on  the  land  granted  to  these  two  towns  by  the 
General  Assembly  in  1686.  This  grant  was  a  hasty  measure  adopted  in 
anticipation  of  the  coming  of  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  when  it  was  feared 
he  would  attempt  to  sequestrate  the  unappropriated  lands  held  by  the 
Governor  and  company  of  Connecticut  under  the  charter  of  King 
Charles  II.,  as  well  as  to  annul  the  charter  itself.  The  grant  to  Hart- 
ford and  Windsor  consisted  of  "  those  lands  on  the  north  of  Woodbury 
and  Mattatuck,  and  on  the  west  of  Farmington  and  Simsbury,  to  the 
Massachusetts  line  north,  and  to  run  west  to  the  Housatunnuck  River 
(provided  it  be  not,  or  part  of  it,  formerly  granted  to  any  particular 
person),  to  make  a  plantation  or  village  thereon."  After  the  flight  of 
Andros,  in  1689,  when  the  charter  government  was  resumed,  no  action 
was  taken  in  regard  to  the  lands.  "  It  is  probable  that  the  General 
Court,  while  composed  mainly  of  those  who  voted  the  grant,  were  un- 
willing, by  a  revocation,  to  incur  the  imputation  of  having  made  a 
fictitious  disposal  of  the  lands ;  and  that  the  grantees,  while  the  well- 
known  intent  of  the  grants  was  fresh  in  their  remembrance,  were 
slow  to  repudiate  the  implied  trust  by  any  overt  act  of  ownership."  x 
In  1707,  more  than  twenty  years  after  the  grant,  and  after  most 
of  those  then  on  the  stage  had  passed  away.  Major  William  Whiting, 
Mr.  Nathaniel  Hooker,  and  Mr.  Caleb  Stanly  were  appointed  to  survey 
this  tract  of  land  in  conjunction  with  a  committee  from  Windsor. 
The  same  committee,  with  the  addition  of  Mr.  Richard  Edwards,  were 
appointed,  Jan.  19,  1708,  to  treat  with  Mr.  John  Reade,  of  Stratford, 
and  other  claimants  to  these  lands,  to  settle  the  boundaries,  and  to 
adopt  legal  measures,  if  necessary,  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  the  two 
towns.  Here  the  matter  seemed  to  rest  for  a  time ;  but  Nov.  2,  1713, 
after  peace  was  declared,  Captain  John  Sheldon,  Lieutenant  Cyprian 
Nichols,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Sedgwick  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
take  account  of  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  lands,  and  to  ascertain 
the  nature  of  the  Indian  claims  to  the  territory.  Two  years  later,  in 
1715,  Colonel  William  Whiting,  Ensign  John  Marsh,  and  Ensign 
Thomas  Seymor  were  appointed  in  conjunction  with  the  Windsor  com- 
mittee to  lay  out  one  or  two  towns  in  this  tract  of  land ;  and  in  pursu- 
ance of  these  directions,  in  1717,  the  town  of  Litchfield,  at  first  called 
Xew  Bantam,  was  laid  out.  Certain  considerable  persons  in  Farming- 
ton  having  obtained  by  purchase  the  native's^right  to  a  portion  of  this 
township,  after  some  negotiation,  one  sixth  part  of  it  was  set  apart 
for  them,  provided  that  they  release  and  convey  to  the  two  towns  their 
claims  to  the  western  lands.  In  May,  1719,  the  General  Assembly 
confirmed  the  rights  of  the  settlers  of  Litchfield ;  but  with  evident  dis- 
approval of  the  proceedings  of   Hartford  and  Windsor  appends  the 

1  Boyd's  History  of  Winchester,  p.  10. 


GENERAL  HISTORY  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.         77 

declaration  that  the  whole  tract  north  of  Litchfield  and  Woodbury 
"  shall  lie  for  the  further  disposal  of  the  Assembly."  This  appears  to 
have  been  something  of  a  check  upon  the  plans  of  the  two  towns,  and 
made  it  necessary  for  them  to  go  through  the  form  of  requesting  the 
assent  of  the  Assembly  to  their  next  project,  —  Major  Talcott,  Captain 
Cook,  and  Ensign  Seymor  being  appointed,  Dec.  14,  1719,  to  ask 
leave  of  the  Assembly  to  settle  one  or  more  townships  on  the  remain- 
der of  the  western  lands.  There  is  no  evidence  that  any  such  consent 
was  ever  received ;  but  in  1720  Ensign  Thomas  Seymor  and  Ser- 
geant James  Ensign  were  appointed  to  purchase  the  territory  of  the 
natives ;  and  later  in  the  same  year  it  was  voted  that  a  list  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town,  purchasers  of  the  western  lands,  be  made,  so 
that  every  purchaser  should  receive  his  proportion.  Dec.  19,  1721, 
Captain  John  Sheldon  was  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  selecting 
a  place  for  another  "  plantation."  The  next  year  John  Seymor,  Sam- 
uel Catlin,  and  William  Baker,  of  Hartford,  were  appointed,  with 
Thomas  More  and  Job  Elsworth,  of  Windsor,  "  to  take  a  further  view 
of  the  land  in  order  to  settling  another  town."  April  1,  1723,  this 
committee  reported  the  laying  out  of  a  town  of  sixty-seven  allotments, 
and  it  was  voted  that  the  allotments  be  disposed  of  at  £6  each. 
The  General  Assembly  was  at  last  aroused,  and  at  its  May  session 
ordered  the  King's  attorney  for  the  County  of  New  Haven  to  arrest 
the  Hartford  and  Windsor  committees,  who  had  the  matter  in  charge. 
Public  feeling  ran  so  high  in  Hartford  County  that  civil  process  against 
the  trespassers  could  not  be  executed ;  so  the  New  Haven  officials  were 
called  upon  to  act.  Hartford  responded  by  appointing  Joseph  Talcott, 
Esq.,  Captain  Hezekiah  Wyllys,  Lieutenant  Thomas  Seymor,  and  Mr. 
James  Ensign  to  appear  before  the  Assembly  and  explain  and  defend 
the  proceedings  with  regard  to  the  lands.  They  were  also  to  propose 
a  compromise,  dividing  the  lands  by  a  line  drawn  from  the  northwest 
corner  of  Litchfield  north  to  the  Massachusetts  line,  the  colony  taking 
the  western  division,  the  eastern  to  be  confirmed  to  Hartford  and 
Windsor.  This  was  not  acceded  to  ;  and  finally,  after  a  long  and  care- 
ful examination  of  claims  by  the  committee  of  the  Assembly,  in  1726 
they  proposed  that  the  whole  tract  of  land  in  question  should  be  equally 
divided  between  the  colony  and  the  two  towns,  —  the  colony  to  have 
the  western  portion  and  Hartford  and  Windsor  the  eastern  ;  also  that 
Litchfield  should  not  come  into  the  division,  but  should  belong  to  the 
proprietors.  This  territory  ceded  to  Hartford  and  Windsor  embraced 
the  present  towns  of  Colebrook,  Hartlancl,  Winchester,  Barkhamsted, 
Torrington,  New  Hartford,  and  Harwinton,  —  an  estimated  area  of 
291,806  acres,  to  which  should  be  added  the  township  of  Litchfield, 
covering  35,000  acres  more.  The  Government  was  probably  actuated 
by  an  earnest  desire  to  have  these  valuable  lands  thrown  open  for  settle- 
ment, as  could  not  well  be  done  while  this  conflict  continued ;  for, 
although  called  an  equal  division,  the  quantity  of  land  reserved  to  the 
colony  was  only  120,000  acres.  Notwithstanding  this  concession,  the 
compact  was  not  finally  ratified  until  Aug.  30,  1729,  when  the  patent 
was  duly  executed,  and  received  the  colony's  seal.  The  next  year  the 
General  Assembly  annexed  all  the  western  lands  belonging  to  Hartford 
and  Windsor  to  the  County  of  Hartford.  Captain  Thomas  Seymor 
and  Lieutenant  Roger  Newberry  were  appointed  in  May,  1731,  to  make 


78  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

a  division  of  these  lands,  and  Mr.  Kimberley  made  a  survey,  from 
which  it  was  calculated  that  five  towns  might  be  laid  out  eastward  of 
the  Housatonic  River,  four  north  of  Litchfield,  and  one  between  Litch- 
field and  the  river.  The  deed  dividing  the  land  between  the  two 
towns  bears  date  Feb.  11, 1732,  and  the  proprietors  of  Hartford  became 
the  owners  of  Hartland,  Winchester,  New  Hartford,  and  the  eastern 
half  of  Harwinton,  while  Colebrook,  Barkhamsted,  Torrington,  and  the 
western  half  of  Harwinton  were  assigned  to  Windsor.  The  Assembly 
passed  a  law  providing  that  each  tax-payer  of  the  two  towns,  on  their 
lists  for  1720,  should  own  a  share,  in  proportion  to  his  list,  in  one  of 
these  new  townships,  at  the  rate  of  more  than  three  acres  to  the  pound 
of  his  list.  The  lands  belonging  to  the  colony  were  sold,  and  the  pro- 
ceeds were  devoted  to  the  support  of  the  schools,  this  money  being 
divided  among  the  towns  then  settled,  to  remain  a  perpetual  fund. 

The  settlement  of  Harwinton  was  vigorously  carried  on  at  once,  and 
that  of  New  Hartford  a  few  years  later ;  but  the  remaining  townships 
were  unoccupied,  save  by  a  few  straggling  settlers,  before  1750,  as 
until  and  even  after  that  period  the  danger  of  attacks  from  the  In- 
dians was  sufficient  to  deter  the  people  from  settling  in  the  wilderness. 

In  connection  with  this  account  of  the  western  lands  should  be 
mentioned  the  "  Hartford  Riot,"  as  Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull,  in  his 
"  History  of  Connecticut,"  represents  it,  mistakenly,  however,  as  one 
of  the  consequences  of  that  long  controversy.  "  Moreover,  the  charac- 
ter and  position  of  some  of  the  parties  implicated  gave  it  an  importance 
which  does  not  usually  attach  to  the  doings  of  a  mob.  The  cause  and 
occasion,  however,  have  been  completely  lost  sight  of.  .  .  .  More  recent 
writers  have  adopted  Dr.  Trumbull's  version ;  and  no  one,  so  far  as  I 
can  discover,  has  been  at  the  pains  of  investigating  the  real  causes  of 
this  popular  outbreak."1  The  following  account  is  condensed  from 
Dr.  J.  H.  Trumbull's  article  on  the  subject,  which  appeared  in  the 
"Hartford  Evening  Press,"  October,  1860. 

Joshua,  Sachem  of  the  Niantic  Indians,  by  his  will,  made  in  1676, 
gave  large  tracts  of  land  in  (what  now  constitutes)  the  counties  of 
Windham  and  Tolland,  to  certain  gentlemen  of  Hartford,  Windsor,  and 
elsewhere,  reserving  a  portion  on  Willimantic  and  Hop  rivers  for  his 
sons.  His  title  to  the  lands  which  he  so  liberally  distributed  was,  to 
say  the  least,  somewhat  questionable.  It  was  not  without  much  hesita- 
tion that  the  will  was  admitted  to  probate,  and  then  only  on  condition 
that  the  legatees  should  "  submit  the  dispose  and  improvement  of  the 
said  lands  to  the  General  Court's  ordering,  to  make  a  plantation  of." 
In  1706  the  Hartford  legatees  received  a  grant  of  township  privileges 
for  Coventry,  and  in  1715  those  of  Windsor  were  authorized  to  lay  out 
Tolland.  Before  that  date  Captain  Jeremiah  Fitch,  of  Norwich,  had 
purchased  a  considerable  tract  in  Coventry,  deriving  his  title  by  deed 
from  a  Windsor  settler  who  had  bought  from  one  of  the  Windsor  lega- 
tees. A  part  of  his  farm  was  within  the  tract  reserved  by  Joshua  for  his 
sons ;  and  the  last  survivor,  Abimelech,  had  willed  it  to  Major  John  Clarke 
and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Buckingham,  of  Saybrook.  Major  Clarke  brought 
an  action,  in  May,  1721,  against  Fitch,  in  the  Superior  Court,  to  recover 
possession  of  these  lands.  Judgment  was  given  for  the  plaintiff,  and 
execution  granted  for  the  costs,  amounting  to  £14  13s.     Captain  Fitch 

1  Dr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull. 


GENERAL  HISTORY  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  79 

remained  obstinate,  the  execution  was  returned  unsatisfied,  and  then 
the  captain  was  committed  to  prison  in  Hartford.  His  neighbors  were 
indignant  at  this  outrage  on  squatters'  rights.  There  was  scarcely  a 
farm  in  that  region  over  which  there  were  not  two  or  three  conflicting 
titles.  They  resolved  on  a  demonstration.  Oct.  22,  1722,  a  party  from 
the  Hop  River  country,  joined  by  some  from  East  Windsor,  —  about 
fifty  in  all,  —  crossed  the  Hartford  ferry,  and,  marching  to  the  jail, 
demanded  the  immediate  release  of  Captain  Fitch.  The  jailer,  Thomas 
Meakins,  refused  to  comply  with  their  demands,  and  opposed  their  en- 
trance. But  a  battering-ram  was  soon  found  in  a  piece  of  timber  lying 
near  by.  The  door  was  burst  open,  the  rioters  rushed  in,  carried  off 
Captain  Fitch  in  triumph,  and  made  a  general  jail-delivery.  Colonel 
William  Whiting,  the  High  Sheriff,  with  such  assistance  as  he  could 
muster,  pursued  and  overtook  them  at  the  river-side,  and  made  every 
exertion  to  recapture  the  prisoner.  But  the  rioters,  after  the  inter- 
change of  a  few  blows  and  some  scuffling,  in  which  the  Sheriff  came  off 
second  best,  all  got  safely  on  board  the  ferry-boat,  and  compelled  the 
ferry-man  to  land  them,  out  of  the  reach  of  immediate  pursuit,  on  the 
eastern  side.  The  General  Assembly  took  immediate  measures  for 
the  punishment  of  the  offenders,  and  a  special  court  was  ordered  to  sit 
in  Hartford  for  this  trial,  which  took  place  in  May,  1723.  Fifteen  per- 
sons were  tried  and  convicted  ;  but  Captain  Fitch  was  fully  acquitted 
of  all  participation  in  the  riot,  the  court  not  regarding  it  as  a  crime 
that  he  walked  out  of  prison  with  his  friends  when  the  doors  were 
opened. 

We  must  now  resume  the  thread  of  events  after  the  Peace  of 
Utrecht.  During  the  first  few  years  after  that  event  one  of  the  sub- 
jects which  most  concerned  the  people  of  Hartford  County  was  the 
proposed  removal  of  the  collegiate  school  from  Saybrook,  as  they  were 
very  desirous  that  it  should  be  located  at  Wethersfield  or  Hartford. 
The  sum  of  £1,000  was  offered  to  the  college  if  it  should  be  removed 
to  Hartford ;  and  two  of  the  trustees,  the  Rev.  Timothy  Woodbridge 
and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Buckingham,  favored  the  plan.  Dec.  18,  1716, 
the  town  of  Hartford  voted  in  favor  of  this  proposal,  and  one  of  the 
reasons  mentioned  was,  that  there  was  little  communication  between 
the  counties  of  Hartford  and  New  London  and  New  Haven,  "  the 
transporting  anything  by  water  being  so  uncertain."  After  the  As- 
sembly had  decided  that  the  college  should  go  to  New  Haven,  the  two 
opposing  trustees  offered  a  remonstrance  to  that  body ;  and  having  the 
two  junior  classes  at  Wethersfield  under  tuition,  they  held  a  Commence- 
ment there,  Sept.  12, 1718,  —  the  same  day  that  the  like  ceremonies  were 
going  on  in  New  Haven,  —  Mr.  Woodbridge  presenting  the  class  with 
certificates  that  they  were  worthy  to  be  Bachelors  of  Arts.  He  who 
was  afterward  known  as  the  great  divine,  Jonathan  Edwards,  was  one 
of  the  youths  who  figured  on  this  occasion.  The  people  of  Hartford 
were  so  much  gratified  by  Mr.  Woodbridge's  stout  resistance  to  the 
removal  of  the  college  to  New  Haven  that  they  elected  him,  and  also 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Buckingham,  of  the  South  Church,  his  fellow-pastor 
in  Hartford,  to  represent  them  in  the  General  Assembly  in  1719 ;  but 
they  were  not  allowed  to  take  their  seats. 

That  year  a  new  State  House  was  built  in  Hartford,  as  an  equivalent 


80  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

to  the  establishment  of  the  college  at  New  Haven.  Still,  the  Wethers- 
field  school  was  continued,  and  was  a  cave  of  Adullam  to  which 
students  discontented  at  New  Haven  repaired  for  refuge ;  but  finally 
the  breach  was  healed.  Mr.  Woodbridge  was  chosen  rector  pro  tempore, 
after  the  removal  of  Mr.  Cutler,  in  1722,  and  presided  at  the  Com- 
mencement in  New  Haven,  as  he  had  done  five  years  before  at 
Wethersfield. 

In  1723  the  peace  of  the  colony  was  disturbed  by  threatenings  of 
another  Indian  war.  Massachusetts  had  become  involved  in  conflict 
with  the  Indians  of  Maine,  and  called  upon  Connecticut  for  assistance. 
There  was  also  danger  that  the  tribes  on  the  western  and  northern 
borders  would  sympathize  with  their  brethren ;  and  in  August,  Major 
Talcott  was  ordered  to  ride  upon  the  frontiers,  from  Hartford  to  New 
Milford,  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  three  hundred  men,  scouts  were 
sent  out  to  range  the  woods  from  Simsbury  westward  to  the  Housa- 
tonic,  and  the  friendly  Indians  were  directed  not  to  go  hunting  north 
of  the  road  from  Farmington  to  Woodbury.  A  Committee  of  War  at 
Hartford  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Colonel  Matthew  Allyn,  Esq., 
Captain  Roger  Wolcott,  Esq.,  Colonel  William  Whiting,  Captain  Aaron 
Cook,  Lieutenant  Nathaniel  Stanly,  and  Captain  David  Goodrich ;  and 
fifty  men  were  sent  to  the  advanced  posts  of  Deerfield  and  Northfield, 
in  Massachusetts.  The  new  settlement  at  Litchfield  suffered  from  this 
war,  —  some  of  the  inhabitants  deserting  their  new  homes  on  account 
of  the  alarm  caused  from  fears  of  Indian  attacks,  and  also  perhaps 
because  of  the  arduous  duties  of  keeping  watch  and  ward,  rendered 
necessary  by  the  fear  of  the  enemy.  The  western  settlements  were 
considered  so  exposed  that  thirty-two  men  were  sent  from  Hartford, 
Wethersfield,  and  Farmington  to  their  assistance.  In  October,  1724, 
the  Assembly  passed  a  law  that  all  persons  who  had  deserted  Litch- 
field should  forfeit  their  lands  there,  unless  they  returned  within  the 
space  of  one  month  after  the  rising  of  the  Assembly,  or  sent  other 
settlers  as  their  substitutes.  The  Committee  of  War  at  Hartford 
was  authorized  to  admit  new  settlers  in  the  place  of  such  deserters, 
and  to  give  them  the  forfeited  lands.  In  May,  1724,  Indians  having 
been  discovered  lurking  about  Litchfield,  a  party  of  thirty-two  men 
was  ordered  to  go  from  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Farmington  to 
the  aid  of  that  town.  The  sum  of  <£50  was  offered  for  every 
Indian  scalp  produced  before  the  Governor  and  Council  or  the  Com- 
mittee of  War.  In  the  autumn  the  fears  of  a  surprise  were  apparently 
lessened ;  for  the  friendly  Indians  were  allowed  to  hunt  as  formerly, 
"  provided  they  wore  something  white  upon  their  heads,  to  distinguish 
them  as  friends."  But  in  March,  1725,  there  was  another  alarm,  and 
the  detachment  in  the  towns  of  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Windsor, 
two  hundred  strong,  were  ordered  to  be  in  readiness  to  march  at  the 
shortest  notice.  September  17,  Captain  Cyprian  Nichols  and  a  com- 
pany of  fifty  men  were  ordered  into  Hampshire  County,  as  the  Indians 
were  reported  to  be  preparing  to  attack.  The  next  year  peace  was 
restored,  and  for  a  period  of  fourteen  years  no  war  with  either  French- 
man or  Indian  disturbed  the  colonists. 

The  wilderness  lying  east  of  the  Connecticut  River,  being  less  ex- 
posed to  hostile  incursions  than  the  western  lands,  naturally  attracted 
numerous  settlers.    The  laying  out  of  Coventry  and  Tolland  has  already 


GENERAL  HISTORY  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  81 

been  mentioned.  Stafford  was  incorporated  in  1719,  and  Bolton, — 
where  many  Hartford  families  were  represented,  —  in  1716. 

Hartford  County,  which  then  embraced  a  much  larger  extent  of 
territory  than  now,  suffered  diminution  a  little  later.  Windham  County 
was  established  in  1726  ;  and  in  1728  the  people  of  Waterbury,  at  their 
own  request,  were  annexed  to  New  Haven  County.  The  townships  of 
Norfolk  and  Salisbury  were  sold  at  auction  in  Hartford,  in  May,  1738. 
New  Hartford  was  settled  earlier ;  but  these  frontier  settlements  were 
less  popular,  for  danger  from  the  savages  was  by  no  means  at  an  end, 
and  fortifications  were  needed  for  safety. 

In  1740  a  war  with  a  more  distant  foe  claimed  the  attention  of  Con- 
necticut, and  in  July,  Major  William  Pitkin  was  appointed  to  enroll 
volunteers  in  Hartford  County,  and  to  beat  up  for  recruits  for  the 
expedition  against  the  territories  of  the  Catholic  King  in  the  West 
Indies.  This  was  Admiral  Vernon's  expedition,  sent  from  England  to 
capture  Porto  Bello  and  Carthagena.  Although  successful  in  capturing 
Carthagena,  an  extraordinary  sickness  attacked  the  forces,  and  out 
of  one  thousand  New  Englanders  only  one  hundred  lived  to  return  to 
their  homes. 

France  openly  declared  war  against  Great  Britain  in  1744,  having 
previously  assisted  Spain  secretly  in  every  possible  manner.  The  pre- 
vious year  there  appears  to  have  been  some  alarm  with  regard  to  the 
Indians,  as  a  Committee  of  War  was  appointed  in  Hartford  County, 
consisting  of  the  Deputy  Governor,  Roger  Wolcott,  Nathaniel  Stanly, 
Ozias  Pitkin,  and  William  Pitkin,  Esquires,  Captain  John  Marsh,  and 
Mr.  Joseph  Buckingham,  to  send  men  into  the  frontier  towns  and  into 
Hampshire  County  in  case  of  an  invasion. 

A  great  effort  was  made  in  1745  to  raise  troops  for  the  expedition 
to  Cape  Breton,  of  which  William  Pepperell  was  Lieutenant-general, 
and  Roger  Wolcott,  of  Windsor,  was  second  in  command,  with  the 
rank  of  Major-general.  The  popularity  of  these  two  commanders 
induced  many  of  the  better  sort  of  people  to  enlist.  Connecticut  raised 
four  hundred  men,  and  sent  also  her  sloop,  "  The  Defence,"  with  one 
hundred  men  for  the  sea-service.  Great  sacrifices  and  exertions  were 
made  by  all  classes,  as  the  reduction  of  Louisbourg  was  believed  to  be 
necessary  for  the  peace  of  New  England.  The  Connecticut  forces 
sailed  from  New  London  about  the  1st  of  April,  and  the  General 
Assembly  ordered  the  3d  of  April  to  be  kept  as  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer  for  the  success  of  the  expedition.  The  object  of  these  prayers 
was  obtained,  and  Louisbourg  capitulated  to  the  prowess  of  the  provin- 
cial army,  unaided  by  any  British  ships  or  soldiers,  after  a  siege  of 
forty-nine  days.  After  the  place  was  captured  it  was  garrisoned  by 
the  New  England  soldiers,  and  Connecticut  sent,  in  July,  three  hun- 
dred men  to  assist  in  occupying  the  town. 

Meanwhile  the  Committee  of  War  at  Hartford  were  engaged  in  pro- 
viding troops  for  defence  nearer  home.  A  company  of  sixty  men  was 
raised  in  May,  to  be  employed  in  garrisoning  the  line  of  block-houses 
erected  in  Massachusetts  between  the  Connecticut  River  and  the  Dutch 
settlements  at  Hoosack.  The  next  year,  1746,  they  built  a  fort  in  the 
northwesterly  part  of  Salisbury. 

Encouraged  by  the  success  of  the  Louisbourg  expedition,  another 
plan  was   made   for  the    reduction  of  Canada,  in  1746.     Connecticut 

VOL.    I.  —6. 


82  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

furnished  one  thousand  men,  —  Elisha  Williams  colonel,  Samuel  Talcott 
lieutenant-colonel ;  but  very  little  was  accomplished,  although  the  army 
was  well  provided  with  men  and  munitions  of  war. 

After  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  signed  in  1748,  the  colonists 
were  able  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  arts  of  peace,  though  they  still 
suffered  annoyances  from  the  Indians,  who  by  no  means  scrupulously 
observed  the  articles  of  the  treaty.  Nevertheless  the  frontier  settle- 
ments increased  rapidly,  and  by  the  year  1755  there  were  many  in- 
habitants in  New  Hartford,  Norfolk,  Canaan,  and  other  towns  in  what 
is  now  Litchfield  County,  that  county  being  established  in  1751. 

Although  Hartford  County  lost  territory  by  this  separation,  a 
partial  equivalent  for  this  loss  was  received  by  the  final  cession  by 
Massachusetts  of  the  towns  of  Suffield  and  Enfield,  in  1752,  after  a 
long  retention,  against  the  wishes  of  the  inhabitants. 

The  French  as  well  as  the  Indians  disregarded  the  provisions  of  the 
Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  encroached  in  many  places  on  the  north- 
ern and  western  frontiers.  Their  design  was  to  hem  the  English  in 
and  confine  them  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  But  the  colonists,  resent- 
ing thoroughly  this  attempt  to  restrict  their  advance  into  the  rich  and 
fertile  country  beyond  the  Alleghanies,  resolved  that  this  frontier 
bristling  with  savage  hostility  should  be  removed,  at  whatever  expense 
of  blood  and  treasure.  The  English  government  promised  assistance, 
and  advised  the  colonists  to  unite  in  defence  against  this  common 
enemy.  In  accordance  with  this  recommendation  a  convention  of  the 
governors  and  principal  gentlemen  of  the  colonies  met  at  Albany  in 
1754.  Connecticut  was  represented  by  the  Hon.  William  Pitkin,  Roger 
Wolcott,  Jr.,  and  Elisha  Williams,  Esq.,  all  of  Hartford  County.  The 
next  year  war  was  openly  declared  between  France  and  England. 
One  thousand  men  were  raised  by  Connecticut  for  Governor  Shirley's 
expedition  against  Crown  Point,  and  the  Committee  of  War  in  Hartford 
County  were  empowered  to  assist  Massachusetts  in  building  a  fort 
between  Fort  Massachusetts  (now  Williamstown)  and  the  Hudson 
River.  After  this  time  the  field  of  hostilities  was  so  far  removed  from 
the  borders  of  Connecticut  that  Hartford  County  was  no  longer  spe- 
cially called  upon  to  assist  in  the  defence  of  Hampshire  County  ;  but 
she  furnished  her  full  share  of  the  men  who  fought  at  Crown  Point 
and  Ticonderoga.  This  long  and  arduous  war,  lasting  seven  years,  was 
a  heavy  strain  upon  the  resources  of  Connecticut.  The  treasury  being 
almost  exhausted  in  1757,  in  order  to  raise  £1000  a  public  lottery 
was  opened  in  Hartford,  and  Colonel  Thomas  Welles,  of  Glaston- 
bury, Colonel  Samuel  Talcott,  and  Mr.  Richard  Edwards  were  the 
managers. 

While  the  colonies  were  recovering  from  the  effects  of  this  long 
and  costly  war,  the  government  in  England  was  preparing  the  oppres- 
sive and  annoying  Stamp  Act.  When  the  Colonies  became  aware  of 
the  proposed  measure,  they  used  all  possible  means  to  avert  it.  Jared 
Ingersoll,  the  agent  sent  to  London  by  Connecticut,  finally  accepted 
the  office  of  stamp-master  for  the  colony.  When  he  returned,  he 
experienced  great  difficulties  in  executing  his  duties,  and  on  the 
road  to  Hartford  he  was  encountered  by  the  Sons  of  Liberty  near 
Wethersfield,  who  escorted  him,  five  hundred  strong,  into  that  town, 
and  then   insisted   on   his   resigning  the   office.      With   considerable 


GENERAL  HISTORY  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  83 

unwillingness  he  submitted  to  the  mandates  of  the  crowd,  who  then 
took  him  to  Hartford,  where  the  Sons  of  Liberty  formed  a  semicircle 
round  the  court-house.  The  stamp-master  was  stationed  in  a  conspicu- 
ous place,  and  compelled  to  read  his  recantation  aloud,  in  the  hearing 
of  the  Assembly  and  the  presence  of  the  people.  In  1766  the  Stamp 
Act  was  repealed,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  colonies  ;  but  the  policy  of 
the  English  government  was  not  changed.  The  taxes  imposed  on 
imported  articles  led  to  the  formation  of  non-importing  associations  in 
nearly  all  the  colonies.  Some  of  the  New  York  merchants  did  not 
keep  this  agreement;  and  Sept.  13,  1770,  a  convention  of  merchants 
and  landholders  from  all  the  towns  in  the  colony  met  at  New  Haven  to 
consider  these  matters,  and  also  to  provide  for  the  growth  of  home 
manufactures. 

The  general  dissatisfaction  and  discontent  increased,  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  British  ministry  being  ill  calculated  to  allay  the  indignation 
felt  in  all  the  colonies.  The  Boston  Port  Bill  raised  a  spirit  of  resist- 
ance everywhere ;  and  Connecticut,  so  closely  connected  with  Massa- 
chusetts by  ties  of  blood,  friendship,  and  interest,  sympathized  most 
keenly  with  the  distressed  inhabitants  of  Boston  and  Charlestown. 

In  Farmington  the  Act  of  Parliament  was  burnt  by  the  common 
hangman  in  the  presence  of  a  large  assemblage  of  people.  June  23, 1774, 
a  meeting  was  held  at  Glastonbury,  Colonel  Elizur  Talcott  chairman ; 
spirited  resolutions  were  passed,  and  a  committee  appointed  to  receive 
contributions  for  the  people  of  Boston ;  and  similar  measures  were 
taken  in  other  towns. 

Sept.  15,  1774,  a  convention  was  held  at  Hartford,  composed  of 
delegates  from  most  of  the  towns  in  the  eastern  and  central,  and  a 
number  from  the  western  section  of  Connecticut.  Many  strong  reso- 
lutions were  adopted  in  favor  of  the  Non-Consumption  Agreement 
being  entered  into  by  the  consumers  of  British  goods.  Tea  was  the 
article  of  commerce  most  disapproved  of;  and  after  the  Continental 
Congress  had  prohibited  the  purchase  and  consumption  of  it,  those  who 
used  it  had  to  do  so  by  stealth,  sentinels  being  posted  at  the  windows 
to  watch  if  neighbors  or  strangers  were  coming.  March  23,  1775,  Solo- 
mon Cowles,  of  Farmington,  and  Martha  his  wife,  having  been  con- 
victed of  partaking  of  that  "  detestable  and  obnoxious  vegetable  called 
East  India  tea,"  and  of  having  allowed  it  to  be  used  in  their  house,  were 
obliged  to  sign  a  public  confession  of  their  errors,  which  was  printed 
in  the  "  Connecticut  Courant,"  and  to  promise  that  they  would  in  the 
future  conform  themselves  strictly  to  the  prohibition  of  Congress. 
And  this  is  only  one  example  out  of  many  cases. 

When  the  farmers  at  Lexington  "  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the 
world,"  Connecticut  sprang  to  arms.  Hastily  formed  companies  started 
at  once  from  the  following  towns  in  Hartford  County  :  from  Hartford, 
four  companies,  under  Captains  Jonathan  Welles,  Timothy  Cheney,  Abra- 
ham Sedgwick,  and  George  Pitkin ;  East  Windsor,  four  companies,  under 
Captains  Charles  Ellsworth,  Matthew  Grant,  Lemuel  Stoughton,  and 
Amasa  Loomis  ;  from  Simsbury,  two  companies,  under  Captains  Amos 
Wilcox  and  Zachariah  Gillet ;  from  Bolton,  two  companies,  under  Cap- 
tains Ezekiel  Olcott  and  Thomas  Pitkin  ;  from  Wethersfield,  one,  under 
Captain  John  Chester ;  from  Enfield,  one,  under  Captain  Nathaniel 
Terry  ;  from  Glastonbury,  one,  under  Captain  Elizur  Hubbard ;  from 


84  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

Windsor,  one,  under  Captain  Nathaniel  Hayden ;  and  one  from  Suffield, 
under  Captain  Elihu  Kent. 

The  surprise  of  Fort  Ticonderoga  was  planned  in  Hartford,  mostly 
by  Hartford  County  men,  who  borrowed  money  from  the  colonial  trea- 
sury to  defray  the  expense,  giving  their  individual  obligations  with 
security.  These  persons  were  Samuel  Wyllys,  Samuel  Holden  Parsons, 
Silas  Deane,  Samuel  Bishop,  Jr.,  William  Williams,  Thomas  Mumford, 
Adam  Babcock,  Joshua  Porter,  Jesse  Root,  Ezekiel  Williams,  and 
Charles  Webb.  Their  proceedings  were  carried  on  ostensibly  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  Assembly,  then  in  session,  and  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  complete  the  arrangements  for  this  daring  project.  This 
committee  selected  sixteen  men  from  Connecticut,  the  following  being 
Hartford  County  men  :  Epaphras  Bull,  William  Nichols,  Elijah  Babcock, 
Captain  John  Bigelow,  Bernard  Romans,  Ashbel  Welles,  of  Hartford ; 
Captain  Elisha  Phelps  and  Noah  Phelps,  of  Simsbury.  This  party 
went  to  Pittsfield,  where  Colonel  James  Easton,  of  that  town,  a  native  of 
Hartford,  joined  them  with  forty  men  from  Berkshire  County.  At  Ben- 
nington they  were  reinforced  by  one  hundred  men,  and  Colonel  Ethan 
Allen  took  command  of  the  expedition.  The  result  of  the  attack  is 
well  known,  but  the  initiative  taken  by  Connecticut  has  not  always  been 
recognized.  At  the  same  time  that  Ticonderoga  was  taken,  was  cap- 
tured also  Major  Skene,  of  Skenesborough,  a  prominent  loyalist,  with 
several  members  of  his  family.  They  were  sent  to  Hartford  with  Cap- 
tain Delaplace,  the  commander  at  Ticonderoga,  and  other  officers.  The 
remaining  prisoners,  forty-seven  in  number,  came  later,  under  the  escort 
of  Mr.  Epaphras  Bull.  The  elder  Major  Skene,  or  Governor  Skene,  as 
he  was  called,  was  also  sent  to  Hartford  by  the  Continental  Congress. 
He  and  his  son  left  Hartford,  without  liberty,  July  25,  but  were  easily 
found  at  Middletown.  On  their  return  they  were  removed  to  a  "  very 
commodious  and  pleasantly  situated  house  in  the  West  Society,"  Mrs. 
Hooker's,1  and  apparently  lived  there  in  a  very  comfortable  manner, 
Major  French  being  quartered  there  also.  Their  conduct,  however, 
did  not  always  please  the  people  of  the  West  Division,  and  they 
narrowly  escaped  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers. 

The  prisoners  taken  at  St.  John's,  in  Canada,  in  1775,  were  quar- 
tered in  Wethersfield,  on  their  parole  of  honor  not  to  depart  from  the 
town. 

In  1775,  Colonel  Erastus  Wolcott,  Samuel  Wadsworth,  Ezekiel 
Williams,  Epaphras  Bull,  Henry  Allyn,  Colonel  Fisher  Gay,  Colonel 
Matthew  Talcott,  Colonel  James  Wadsworth,  Jonathan  Welles,  Ebenezer 
White,  and  Colonel  J.  Humphrey  were  appointed  a  committee  to  pro- 
vide for  the  prisoners  of  war  in  Hartford. 

During  the  early  years  of  the  Revolution  many  prisoners  of  impor- 
tance were  sent  to  Hartford  and  its  vicinity  for  safe-keeping.  A  town 
so  far  inland  was  in  little  danger  of  being  .surprised  by  the  British 
forces,  and  the  people  were  so  ardent  in  the  cause  of  independence  that 
they  could  be  relied  upon  to  keep  strict  guard  over  the  captives.  Gov- 
ernor Franklin,  of  New  Jersey,  was  for  a  time  in  a  house  in  South 
Windsor.     Mayor  Matthews,  of  New  York,  was  brought  to  Hartford, 

1  This  house  is  now  standing  on  the  hill  in  Elmwood,  at  the  junction  of  the  New  Britain 
and  Newington  roads,  and  was  long  known  as  the  Mills  place.  Anecdotes  relating  to  the  stay 
of  the  British  officers  are  still  related  by  descendants  of  families  residing  in  the  vicinity. 


GENERAL  HISTORY  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  85 

but  obtained  liberty  to  stay  at  Litchfield,  in  charge  of  Captain  Moses 
Seymour.  Other  gentlemen  from  New  York  made  the  journey  to  Hart- 
ford for  being  suspected  of  entertaining  sentiments  unfriendly  to  the 
American  cause.  The  mayor  of  Albany,  the  postmaster,  and  the  clerk 
of  that  county  also  came  hither  on  a  compulsory  visit. 

Epaphras  Bull,  of  Hartford,  was  appointed  in  1776  commissary  of 
the  prisoners  of  war  in  this  State,  to  observe  all  the  orders  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  and  the  Continental  Congress,  and  to  make  monthly 
returns  of  the  condition  of  said  prisoners  to  the  board  of  war  appointed 
by  Congress. 

In  1777,  prisoners  taken  at  Princeton  and  on  Long  Island  were 
brought  here,  among  them  several  Hessian  officers  ;  and  later  a  number 
of  Burgoyne's  soldiers,  Colonel  Spade,  the  Hessian,  being  one. 

The  journal  of  Major  Christopher  French,  H.  B.  M.,  Twenty-second 
Regiment,  published  in  the  "  Connecticut  Historical  Society's  Collec- 
tions," vol.  i.,  gives  a  lively  representation  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
prisoners  were  kept,  although  occasional  brief  items  in  the  columns  of 
the  "  Connecticut  Courant "  present  the  other  side  of  the  picture.  The 
fact  that  the  officers,  at  least,  were  allowed  to  go  to  Middletown  on  Sun- 
days, where  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jarvis  officiated  after  the  manner  of  the  Church 
of  England,  shows  that  they  were  allowed  considerable  liberty  for  a 
space  of  time.  Major  French  and  Ensign  Moland  escaped  from  the  jail 
in  Hartford,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Rev.  Roger  Viets,  the  Episcopal 
minister  in  Simsbury,  who  secreted  them.  Mr.  Viets  was  severely  pun- 
ished for  this  offence,  and  for  holding  a  traitorous  correspondence  with 
the  enemy. 

Many  tories  from  other  parts  of  the  State  were  incarcerated  at 
Simsbury  in  the  copper-mines,  better  known  as  Newgate.  Toward  the 
end  of  the  war  Congress  entered  into  negotiations  with  the  State  of 
Connecticut  for  the  use  of  the  mines  as  a  prison  "  for  the  reception 
of  British  prisoners  of  war ; "  but  the  peace  put  an  end  to  the  need  of  any 
such  arrangement. 

March  27,  1776,  the  committees  of  inspection  of  fifteen  towns  in 
Hartford  County  met  at  the  State  House  to  establish  the  prices  of  West 
India  goods,  so  that  the  merchants  should  not  take  advantage  of  the 
scarcity,  —  West  India  rum  to  be  sold  at  3s.  Qd.  per  gallon;  molasses, 
2s.  per  gallon  ;  coffee,  lOd.  per  pound,  etc. 

When  the  Connecticut  militia  was  organized  into  regiments  in  1739, 
a  number  of  the  companies  in  Hartford  County  formed  the  First  Regi- 
ment. At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  the  First  Regiment,  Colonel 
Wyllys's,  was  formed  of  companies  from  Hartford  (west  side  of  the 
river),  Windsor,  Suffield,  and  Wintonbury.  The  Sixth  Regiment,  Colo- 
nel Belden,  consisted  of  troops  from  Wethersfield  and  Glastonbury. 
The  Fifteenth  Regiment  was  composed  of  Farmington  men,  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Hooker.  The  companies  from  East  Windsor,  En- 
field, Bolton,  and  Hartford  (east  side  of  the  river)  formed  the  Nine- 
teenth Regiment.  Hebron  and  Marlborough  men  were  in  the  Twelfth 
Regiment,  and  Simsbury  men  in  the  Eighteenth.  The  Twenty-third 
Regiment  was  drawn  from  Middletown  and  Chatham.  In  the  autumn 
of  1776  another  organization  of  the  militia  took  place.  Six  battalions 
were  despatched  to  New  York,  and  the  Second,  under  command  of  Colonel 
Fisher  Gay,  of  Farmington,  and  the  Sixth,  under  Colonel  John  Chester 


86  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

of  Wethersfield,  were  largely  composed  of  Hartford  County  men.  The 
campaign  of  1776,  in  and  about  New  York,  called  into  active  service 
nearly  all  the  Connecticut  militia.  The  regiments  on  the  west  side  of 
the  Connecticut,  and  two  from  the  east  side,  marched  to  New  York 
under  Oliver  Wolcott  as  Brigadier-general,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
militia  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  was  called  to  New  London,  and 
Suffolk,  Long  Island. 

During  the  succeeding  years  of  the  war  many  such  calls  were  made 
upon  the  citizens  of  Connecticut,  when  the  alarm  was  raised  that  the 
British  troops  were  about  to  attack  some  exposed  point  on  our  borders, 
as  at  Norwalk,  Danbury,  and  New  London. 

Many  privateers  were  despatched  from  Connecticut  ports  to  prey 
upon  the  English  merchant  vessels,  those  trading  with  the  West  Indies, 
and  others  bringing  supplies  to  the  army,  offering  a  rich  and  tempting 
prey.  Advertisements  frequently  appeared  in  the  "  Connecticut  Cour- 
ant,"  that  a  sloop  was  lying  off  Rocky  Hill,  waiting  for  "  gentlemen  vol- 
unteers," who  were  besought  to  take  this  easy  means  of  making  their 
fortunes.  Captain  Gideon  Olmsted,  of  East  Hartford,  was  a  very 
prominent  leader  in  these  enterprises,  and  distinguished  himself  by 
his  bravery  and  daring. 

April  30,  1783,  a  formal  celebration  of  the  news  of  the  signing  of 
the  Treaty  of  Paris  was  held  in  Hartford.  The  people  hailed  with  joy 
the  successful  termination  of  the  long  and  arduous  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence, and  gladly  laid  aside  their  weapons  to  practise  the  arts  of 
peace. 


It  would  seem  in  order  now  to  say  a  few  words  about  the  government 
of  the  County,  and  Mr.  C.  J.  Hoadly,  State  Librarian,  has  kindly  fur- 
nished the  following  notes  on  the  subject :  — 

"  An  executive  officer  for  the  courts  was  of  course  necessary  from 
the  beginning,  but  he  is  first  mentioned  in  our  records  by  his  title  of 
Marshal,  under  date  of  June  15,  1659.  The  earliest  law  for  appointing 
county  marshals  appears  in  the  revision  of  our  statutes  printed  in  1673, 
which  gave  that  power  to  the  county  courts.  During  the  interruption 
of  the  colony  government  by  Andros,  1687-1689,  sheriffs  were  ap- 
pointed for  the  four  counties  by  the  Governor  and  Council ;  but  on  the 
re-assumption  of  the  Charter  the  former  order  prevailed.  At  the  May 
session  of  the  General  Court,  1698,  it  was  ordered  and  enacted  that  the 
marshal  of  the  colony  should  be  called  the  High  Sheriff,  and  the  county 
marshal  in  like  manner  the  county  sheriff.  The  powers  of  the  sheriff 
were  enlarged  by  an  act  passed  in  May,  1724,  and  the  appointment 
was  vested  in  the  Governor  and  Council ;  the  official  term,  as  before, 
was  at  the  pleasure  of  the  appointing  power.  By  the  Constitution  of 
1818  the  appointment  was  given  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  the 
official  term  was  fixed  at  three  years,  removable  by  said  Assembly. 
By  a  constitutional  amendment  adopted  in  1838  a  sheriff  for  each 
county  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  electors  residing  therein,  the  term 
remaining  as  before.  Formerly,  and  within  the  memory  of  some  now 
living,  the  sheriff  while  in  the  execution  of  his  official  duty  wore  a 
sword,  and  at  all  public  processions  he  was  the  marshal.    Another  duty 


GENERAL  HISTORY  TO  THE  END  OF  THE   REVOLUTION.         87 

he  performed  was  to  walk  before  the  Governor,  bareheaded,  carrying 
a  drawn  sword,  when  his  Excellency  proceeded  to  and  from  his  lodging 
to  the  General  Assembly." 

The  office  of  County  Commissioner  came  into  existence  in  1838, 
when  the  General  Assembly  passed  a  law  appointing  two  county  com- 
missioners annually,  who,  with  the  judge  of  the  county  court,  were  to 
form  a  county  court.1  In  1841  the  number  of  commissioners  was  in- 
creased to  three,  and  they  are  now  appointed,  one  each  year,  by  the 
General  Assembly,  for  the  term  of  three  years  each.  The  members  of 
the  legislature  for  Hartford  County,  in  caucus,  nominate  the  Commis- 
sioner to  be  elected,  and  he  is  then  voted  for  by  the  General  Assembly, 
and  generally  the  action  of  the  caucus  is  indorsed.  The  county  taxes 
are  laid  by  the  representatives  from  Hartford  County.  The  commis- 
sioners have  charge  of  the  county  property,  and  are  given  powers  in 
relation  to  the  removal  of  deputy  sheriffs,  the  county  taxes,  and  licenses, 
and  they  appoint  the  county  treasurer. 

The  county  jail  is  perhaps  the  most  important  institution  under 
their  care.  The  site  of  the  first  jail,  built  in  1641,  was  on  the  north 
side  of  State  Street,  covering  probably  the  present  Market  Street  and 
the  lot  just  west  of  it.  For  over  one  hundred  years  the  jail  stood  on 
this  spot ;  but  in  1754  William  Pitkin,  Thomas  Welles,  Jabez  Hamlin, 
and  Joseph  Buckingham,  in  behalf  of  the  county,  sold  the  largest  por- 
tion of  the  "  Prison  land  "  to  John  Lawrence,  and  "  the  whole  body  of 
said  old  Prison  and  prison  house,  with  all  the  materials  and  appurte- 
nances thereof,"  to  Daniel  Edwards.  The  workhouse  had  been  placed, 
about  1727,  on  the  highway  now  Pearl  Street,  and  the  jail  was  removed 
to  the  same  location.  A  deed  dated  in  1771  calls  Pearl  Street  "the 
highway  that  leads  from  the  Court  House  to  the  County  Gaol ; "  and  in 
1774  sundry  prisoners  for  debt  petitioned  the  General  Assembly  that 
the  jail  limits  might  be  enlarged  as  far  east  as  the  Court  House,  repre- 
senting that  they  "  labor  under  many  Inconveniences,  hardships,  and 
disadvantages  ...  By  Reason  that  the  Gaol  is  in  so  retired  and  back 
part  of  the  Town,  so  seldom  frequented  by  any  Inhabitants  of  the 
Town,"  etc.  A  new  jail  building  was  erected  on  the  same  lot,  the  pres- 
ent corner  of  Trumbull  and  Pearl  streets,  in  1793,  and  was  occupied  for 
that  purpose  until  June,  1837.2  In  1835  a  lot  at  the  lower  end  of  Pearl 
Street  was  bought  of  William  H.  Imlay,  and  a  new  building  erected 
the  following  year,  which  was  occupied  until  1874.  Land  was  bought 
on  Seyms  Street  in  1873,  at  a  cost  of  $35,582,  and  before  the  end  of 
1874  the  new  building  was  completed  and  occupied.  The  cost  of  the 
new  jail  was  $175,898;  entire  cost  of  land  and  building,  $211,481.22. 
The  old  lot  on  Pearl  Street,  near  the  river,  was  not  sold  until  January, 
1882,  when  it  was  bought  by  the  iEtna  Life  Insurance  Company  for 
$23,000.  In  connection  with  the  jail  on  this  lot  may  be  mentioned  an 
interesting  historical  incident, —  the  detention  there  and  trial  of  the 
"  Amistad  "  captives,  an  occurrence  which  aroused  great  interest  among 
the  Antislavery  agitators  in  the  country.  June  27,  1839,  the  schooner 
"  L' Amistad"  left  Havana  for  Puerto  Principe,  with  a  cargo  of  slaves 

1  The  county  court  was  abolished  in  1856.     See  page  110. 

2  Occupied  later  by  the  well-known  printers  and  publishers,  Case,  Tiffany,  &  Co.,  until 
it  was  pulled  down  to  make  way  for  the  present  building  of  the  Case,  Lockwood,  & 
Brainard  Company. 


88  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

fresh  from  Africa.  These  slaves  at  the  first  opportunity  rose  in  revolt 
and  killed  the  whites,  except  two,  whom  they  reserved  to  navigate  the 
vessel  to  Africa.  The  two  white  men  gradually  altered  the  ship's  course, 
so  that  in  August  she  was  off  Long  Island,  and  the  negroes  landed  on 
the  beach  at  Culloden  Point,  near  Montauk.  Here  they  were  seized  by 
the  United  States  brig  "  Washington,"  Aug.  26,  1839,  and  brought  to 
New  London.  M.  Calderon,  the  Spanish  minister,  in  the  absence  of  an 
extradition  treaty,  asked  the  surrender  of  the  ship  and  cargo  as  an  act  of 
international  comity,  and  President  Van  Buren,  supported  by  the  advice 
of  the  attorney-general,  determined  to  grant  the  request.  On  the  14th 
of  September  the  fifty-three  negroes  were  brought  to  Hartford  to  await 
their  trial  before  the  district  court  of  the  United  States  for  the  district 
of  Connecticut.  Seth  P.  Staples,  an  ardent  Abolitionist,  Theodore 
Sedgwick,  Jr.,  of  New  York,  and  Roger  S.  Baldwin,  of  New  Haven, 
were  counsel  for  the  negroes,  and  gained  a  verdict  in  the  district  court. 
In  November  they  were  remanded  to  New  Haven,  the  district  attorney 
having  appealed  the  case  to  the  circuit  court.  The  Administration  was 
so  confident  of  the  result,  that  a  United  States  vessel  was  ordered  to 
New  Haven  to  convey  the  blacks  to  Cuba ;  but  the  case  was  carried  to 
the  Supreme  Court,  which  gave  final  judgment,  March  9, 1841,  that  the 
negroes  having  been  kidnapped  from  a  foreign  country  were  not  bound 
by  treaties  with  Spain,  but  were  free  men.  They  were  taken  to  Farm- 
in  gton,  where  much  attention  was  paid  them  and  instruction  given 
them,  and  they  were  finally  returned  to  their  own  country. 

A  very  important  edifice,  built  for  the  county  uses,  is  the  handsome 
County  Building 1  on  Trumbull  Street,  opposite  the  foot  of  Pratt  Street, 
begun  in  the  spring  of  1882,  and  completed  January,  1885.  The  land 
was  bought  of  Dr.  G.  B.  Hawley  and  the  Hon.  Marshall  Jewell  at  a 
cost  of  $51,725,  and  the  whole  building  and  lot  cost,  in  round  numbers, 
$260,000. 

The  "Temporary  Home  for  Dependent  and  Neglected  Children," 
established  in  1883,  is  under  the  care  of  the  County  Commissioners. 
This  Home  was  first  opened  in  Bloomfield,  but  was  removed  in  Novem- 
ber, 1885,  to  East  Hartford,  where  the  house  known  as  the  "  Deming 
place,"  on  Burnside  Avenue,  has  been  rented  for  three  years,  with  the 
privilege  of  two  more. 


O^Ciyiy 


J^.jK£crf& 


See  page  111. 


CHAPTEE    V. 

THE    WAR   OF  THE  REBELLION. 

BY   JOHN    C.    KINNEY. 

The  wave  of  patriotic  wrath  which  like  a  cyclone  swept  through 
the  Nation  in  the  spring  of  1861,  in  response  to  the  first  guns  of  the 
Great  Rebellion,  penetrated  no  more  loyal  region  than  the  towns  and 
villages  of  Hartford  County.  The  heart  of  Connecticut  throbbed  as 
strongly  and  as  warmly  as  that  of  Massachusetts,  although  with  the 
inefficient  militia  system  then  prevailing  in  this  State  the  response  to 
the  Nation's  call  for  help  was  less  prompt  than  that  of  our  sister 
Commonwealth.  It  was,  however,  only  a  delay  of  a  few  days  until, 
from  the  swarming  thousands  of  volunteers  from  every  corner  of  the 
State,  three  regiments  of  ardent  men  could  be  organized,  uniformed, 
armed,  and  given  a  little  rudimentary  instruction. 

So  far  as  the  popular  enthusiasm  in  the  work  was  concerned,  the 
story  of  one  town  is  the  story  of  nearly  all,  the  outward  demonstrations 
varying  in  degree  with  the  size  of  the  town.  Everywhere  the  news  of 
the  shots  at  Sumter  came  as  an  electric  shock,  bringing  to  the  hitherto 
incredulous  the  unwelcome  assurance  that  the  Union  could  be  pre- 
served only  by  the  shedding  of  blood.  Everywhere  the  first  shock  was 
followed  by. such  a  demonstration  of  love  and  devotion  to  the  Union 
as  the  Nation  had  never  witnessed  or  dreamed  of.  Party  lines  were 
lost  sight  of;  the  stars  and  stripes  blazed  forth  on  every  hill-top,  from 
every  farm-house  and  church-spire  ;  pulpits  were  made  more  sacred  by 
being  covered  with  its  folds.  Tbe  patriotic  enthusiasm  was  contagious, 
and  for  a  time  at  least  the  few  who  were  out  of  sympathy  wisely  kept 
out  of  sight.  Few  then  doubted  the  righteousness  of  the  cause  or  its 
speedy  triumph ;  and  doubtless  it  was  the  impulse  given  to  loyal  sentiment 
at  this  time  that  had  much  to  do  in  arousing  the  feeling  which  would 
tolerate  no  compromise  that  involved  a  disruption  of  the  Union. 

In  New  Britain  a  great  war-meeting  was  held  on  the  evening  of 
"Battle  Sunday,"  —  the  first  Sunday  after  Sumter  was  fired  upon. 
Resolutions  to  support  the  Government  wTere  unanimously  passed  ;  a 
list  of  volunteers  was  begun,  headed  by  Frank  Stanley  (afterward  shot 
dead  at  Irish  Bend,  Louisiana)  ;  and  V.  B.  Chamberlain,1  a  young  law- 
yer, and  afterward  a  gallant  soldier,  presented  to  the  audience,  accom- 
panied by  a  thrilling  speech,  a  handsome  portrait  of  Major  Anderson, 
the  Sumter  hero,  encircled  with  a  laurel-wreath  prepared  by  a  New 
Britain  lady.  The  vast  assemblage  rose  to  its  feet  with  the  wildest 
demonstrations  of  patriotic  devotion,  presenting  such  a  scene  as  the 
little  city  had  never  before  witnessed  on  a  Sunday  evening  or  any  other 
evening.     This  was  the  first  regular  war-meeting  held  in  the  county, 

1  Afterward  captain  of  the  Seventh  Connecticut  Volunteers  ;  captured  inside  Fort  Wag- 
ner at  the  hist  assault  on  it ;  at  present  (1885-1886)  treasurer  of  the  State. 


90  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

although  nearly  every  church  service  in  the  State  on  that  never-to-be- 
forgotten  Sunday  might  with  propriety  be  called  a  war-meeting. 

It  was  not  until  the  next  day  that  the  President's  call  for  seventy- 
five  thousand  three  months'  volunteers  was  received,  under  which  the 
quota  for  Connecticut  was  a  single  regiment.  How  the  call  was  re- 
sponded to  the  present  generation  will  never  forget.  In  four  days  the 
First  Regiment  was  in  camp  at  New  Haven,  the  Second  was  ready 
within  a  week,  the  Third  was  in  camp  in  Hartford  in  two  weeks,  and 
within  three  weeks  Governor  Buckingham  had  been  tendered  the  ser- 
vices of  fifty -four  companies.  The  First  Regiment  contained  three 
companies  from  Hartford,  in  each  of  which  there  were  men  from  other 
towns  in  the  county.  The  anxiety  to  get  into  the  ranks  then  was  as 
great  as  it  was  to  keep  out  of  them  two  or  three  years  later.  Men 
came  from  miles  away  to  beg  the  privilege  of  enlisting,  some  of  them 
being  credited  to  the  places  of  enlistment  instead  of  to  the  towns  where 
they  resided.  On  this  account,  and  because  the  town  records  as  a  rule 
are  exceedingly  incomplete,  it  is  not  possible  to  give  to  each  town  all  the 
credit  that  is  its  due,  either  for  men  furnished  or  for  money  expended. 

But  what  tested  and  proved  the  patriotism  of  the  people  was  not 
the  impulsive  springing  to  arms  in  April,  1861,  when  many  thought  a 
three  months'  campaign  in  Virginia  would  end  the  war,  but  the  subse- 
quent facing  reverses  and  disappointments,  and  meeting  the  repeated 
calls  for  men  and  money  during  the  sad  four  years  which  followed. 
The  men  who,  immediately  after  Bull  Run,  enlisted  for  three  years  or 
the  war,  were  chiefly  men  who  had  counted  the  cost ;  and  so  it  may  be 
said  of  the  great  mass  of  all  the  subsequent  enlistments.  The  .only 
men  of  whom  the  county  or  the  State  had  reason  to  feel  ashamed  were 
the  professional  bounty -jumpers,  who  during  the  last  year  or  so  were 
hired  as  substitutes  by  men  who  stayed  at  home  and  voted  town-taxes 
to  pay  for  their  exemption.  Many  such  names  of  deserters  are  found 
on  the  rolls  under  the  head  of  recruits ;  and  it  is  remarked  with  satis- 
faction by  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  State  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
that  these  men  were  not  natives  of  the  State. 

The  population  of  Hartford  County  by  the  census  of  1860  was 
89,962,  and  that  of  New  Haven  County,  97,345.  The  quota  of  Hartford 
County  under  the  various  calls,  and  estimating  on  the  basis  of  the  three 
years'  standard,  was  9,594.  The  number  of  men  actually  furnished 
from  the  county,  not  including  the  three  months'  men,  was  11,791,  or, 
reduced  to  the  three  years'  standard,  10,632,  —  a  surplus  of  1,038  three 
years'  men,  or  more  than  one  full  regiment.  In  this  estimate  no 
account  is  made  of  the  536  three  months'  men  sent  from  the  county  in 
response  to  the  first  call  for  help,  and  before  any  quotas  were  assigned. 
These  make  a  total  of  12,327  men  enlisted  from  the  county,  or  nearly 
one  quarter  the  entire  number  furnished  by  the  State.  And  in  this 
statement  no  record  is  made  of  the  many  from  the  county  who  served 
in  the  navy,  or  who  for  various  reasons  enlisted  elsewhere,  and  were 
not  credited  to  their  homes. 

To  compare  the  record  of  the  county  with  the  remainder  of  the 
State,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  total  quota  of  the  State  under 
all  the  calls  was  41,483  three  years'  men,  and  that  the  State  actually 
furnished  the  equivalent  of  48,181  three  years'  men.  Had  the  re- 
mainder of  the  State  contributed  men  in  the  same  ratio  to  population 


THE   WAR  OF   THE   REBELLION. 


91 


that  Hartford  County  did,  the  number  of  three  years'  men  sent  into  the 
field  would  have  been  over  53,300,  or  more  than  5,000  in  excess  of  the 
number  actually  furnished. 

The  following  table  gives  the  number  of  men  furnished  by  each 
town  so  far  as  the  official  records  show :  — 


a 

3 

o 
S 

Quotas. 

Men  furnished. 

a 

|f| 

i 

L 

£  s 

1 

o 

u 

a 

a  3  -p 

1 

o 
a 

s  1 

■a 

"3 

n  a" 

■3  2 

Hartford     .     . 

H 

2 

Z  " 

H 

H 

'£ 

&H 

H 

£ 

321 

520 

130 

3,778 

3,908 

598 

150 

3,897 

4,047 

139 

Avon      .     .     . 

0 

16 

4 

79 

83 

18 

4 

95 

99 

16 

Berlin     .     .     . 

5 

33 

8 

199 

207 

14 

4 

239 

243 

36 

Blooinfield .     . 

1 

31 

8 

135 

143 

46 

11 

145 

156 

13 

Bristol    .     .     . 

0 

67 

17 

311 

328 

50 

13 

371 

384 

56 

Burlington 

0 

15 

4 

115 

119 

13 

3 

116 

119 

0 

Canton   .     .     . 

21 

43 

11 

238 

249 

50 

12 

284 

296 

47 

East  Hartford 

1 

50 

12 

294 

306 

40 

10 

304 

314 

8 

East  Granby  . 

0 

16 

4 

74 

78 

24 

6 

87 

93 

15 

East  Windsor 

11 

47 

12 

262 

274 

68 

17 

283 

300 

26 

Enfield  .     .     . 

19 

m 

16 

321 

337 

80 

20 

425 

445 

108 

Farmington     . 

11 

56 

14 

298 

312 

54 

14 

346 

360 

48 

Glastonbury    . 

3 

58 

15 

293 

308 

67 

17 

344 

361 

53 

Granby  .     .     . 

2 

34 

8 

142 

150 

6 

1 

187 

188 

38 

Hartland     .     . 

0 

16 

4 

77 

81 

27 

7 

82 

89 

8 

Manchester     . 

12 

47 

12 

253 

265 

11 

3 

318 

321 

56 

Marlborough  . 

0 

10 

2 

54 

56 

1 

0 

89 

89 

33 

New  Britain    . 

60 

97 

24 

516 

540 

5 

1 

644 

645 

105 

Rocky  Hill      . 

8 

19 

5 

99 

104 

19 

5 

107 

112 

8 

Simsbury    .     . 

14 

33 

8 

194 

202 

25 

6 

253 

259 

57 

Southington    . 

0 

59 

15 

314 

329 

19 

5 

368 

373 

44 

South  Windsor 

2 

24 

6 

143 

149 

27 

7 

161 

168 

19 

Suffieid  .     .     . 

4 

59 

15 

317 

332 

75 

19 

365 

384 

52 

West  Hartford 

7 

29 

7 

143 

150 

45 

11 

153 

164 

14 

Wethersfield  . 

G 

41 

10 

218 

228 

57 

14 

236 

250 

22 

Windsor      .     . 

2 

46 

12 

187 

199 

71 

18 

184 

202 

3 

Windsor  Locks 
Totals .     . 

20 

34 

9 

148 

157 

36 

9 

162 

171 

14 

536 

1,566 

392 

9,202 

9,594 

1,546 

387 

10,245 

10,632 

1,038 

Hartford  alone  furnished  one  tenth  of  the  three  months'  troops  from 
Connecticut,  and  about  one  twelfth  of  the  three  years'  and  other  soldiers. 
Although  the  State  at  that  time  retained  its  two  capitals,  Hartford  was 
the  seat  of  the  government  when  the  Avar  began,  as  it  was  during  the 
most  eventful  two  years, — 1863  and  1865.  Here  Governor  Buckingham 
made  his  headquarters  when  the  first  call  for  help  came  from  Washing- 
ton ;  and  here  he  found  a  hearty  patriotic  support  during  all  the  dark 
days  of  the  terrible  struggle.  Within  five  days  from  the  firing  of  the 
first  gun  at  Sumter  the  bankers  of  Hartford  tendered  to  the  governor 
a  loan  of  half  a  million  dollars,  and  nearly  three  hundred  men  had 
volunteered  for  the  service. 

The  first  Hartford  company  was  started,  April  17,  by  Joseph  R. 
Hawley,  Albert  W.  Drake,  and  Joseph  Perkins,  in  the  office  of  the 
"  Evening  Press,"  of  which  Hawley  was  editor.  Before  sundown  a 
minimum  had  enlisted,  and  at  a  great  war-meeting  held  in  the  evening 


92  MEMOEIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFOED  COUNTY. 

the  company  was  filled.  George  S.  Burnham,  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the 
First  Regiment  Connecticut  Militia,  was  chosen  captain  ;  Hawley,  first 
lieutenant ;  and  Drake,  second  lieutenant.1  Before  going  into  camp 
Captain  Burnham  was  promoted  to  be  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  regi- 
ment, and  Hawley  became  captain,  and  so  continued  during  the  three 
months'  campaign. 

From  this  time  until  the  close  of  the  war  Hartford  was  busy  in  the 
work  of  furnishing  men  and  supplies. 

Of  the  thirty-five  regiments  or  batteries  sent  into  the  field  by 
Connecticut,  fifteen  rendezvoused  in  Hartford.  To  the  list  of  generals, 
active  or  brevet,  Hartford  County  furnished  the  names  of  Hawley, 
Tyler,  Steclman,  Whittaker,  Ellis,  and  Otis.  On  the  death-roll  there 
are  the  names  of  hundreds  buried  in  Hartford,  while  scores  sleep  in 
unknown  graves  or  on  Southern  battle-fields.  The  limits  of  a  single 
paper  will  suffice  to  give  only  the  briefest  mention. 

The  following  regiments  rendezvoused  in  Hartford,  and  started 
thence  to  the  field :  the  Third,  Fourth,  Fifth,  Eighth,  Tenth,  Eleventh, 
Twelfth,  Fourteenth,  Sixteenth,  Twenty-second,  and  Twenty-fifth.  The 
regiments  commanded  by  Hartford  County  men  were  as  follows  :  — 

First  Infantry.  —  Colonel  George  S.  Burnham,  of  Hartford  (succeeding 
Colonel  Daniel  Tyler). 

First  Cavalry  Squadron.  —  Major  William  H.  Mallory,  of  Hartford. 

First  Heavy  Artillery.  —  Colonel  Levi  Woodhouse,  from  May  to  August, 
1861  ;  Colonel  Bobert  0.  Tyler,  of  Hartford,  to  Jan.  19,  1863. 

Fifth  Infantry.  —  Colonel  George  1).  Chapman,  of  Hartford. 

Seventh  Infantry.  —  Colonel  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  Hartford  (succeeding  Colo- 
nel Alfred  H.  Terry2);  Lieutenant-Colonel  Daniel  C.  Rodman.3 

Tenth  Infantry.  —  Colonel  Albert  W.  Drake,4  South  Windsor  (died  in 
service)  ;   Colonel  John  L.  Otis,  Manchester  (brevet  brigadier-general). 

Eleventh  Infantry.  —  Colonel  Griffin  A.  Stedman,5  Hartford  (promoted  to 
brigadier-general ;  killed  in  action). 

1  Hawley  became  brevet  major-general  ;  Drake  died  in  service  as  colonel  of  the  Tenth 
Connecticut  Volunteers  ;  and  Perkins,  who  enlisted  as  a  private,  was  afterward  colonel  of  a 
United  States  colored  regiment. 

2  Colonel  Terry  (now  Major-General  Terry  of  the  Regular  Army),  although  a  resident  of 
New  Haven,  is  a  Hartford  man  by  birth  and  long  descent,  tracing  his  ancestry  through 
Major  Nathaniel  Terry,  fourth  Mayor  of  Hartford,  to  Dr.  Thomas  Hooker  and  others  of  the  first 
settlers. 

3  Lieutenant-Colonel  Daniel  C.  Rodman  (Seventh)  was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  but 
a  long-time  resident  of  Hartford.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  volunteers  of  the  State,  going 
into  the  service  as  lieutenant  of  Company  B,  First  Regiment,  three  months'  troops.  Return- 
ing from  Bull  Run,  he  recruited  a  company  for  the  Seventh,  of  which  he  later  became  major 
and  lieutenant-colonel.  When  the  first  assault  at  Fort  Wagner  was  decided  upon,  Rodman 
was  selected  to  lead,  being  given  four  companies  of  his  regiment  as  a  storming  column.  A 
brilliant  charge  was  made,  but  the  support  failed,  and  Rodman  was  terribly  wounded.  Two 
ribs  were  crushed  by  a  fragment  of  shell,  and  a  rifle-ball  shattered  his  left  leg.  It  was  at  first 
supposed  that  his  injuries  were  fatal  ;  but  he  had  a  strong  constitution,  and  after  three  months 
absence  he  again  took  the  field.  Before  leaving  Hartford  he  was  presented  an  elegant  sword 
by  the  leading  citizens.  He  never  regained  his  full  heaifh,  and  his  death,  which  occurred 
Oct.  9,  1881,  was  caused  by  the  injury  to  his  lungs,  and  was  preceded  by  years  of  pain. 
After  the  war  he  was  for  several  years  pension-agent  for  the  State.  He  was  a  man  of  strong 
character  and  greatly  beloved  by  his  old  comrades. 

4  Albert  Waldo  Drake,  bom  in  South  Windsor  in  1834,  was  graduated  at  Yale  ;  with 
Joseph  R.  Hawley  he  raised  the  first  volunteer  company  in  the  State,  and  served  during  the 
three  months'  campaign;  he  assisted  in  raising  the  Tenth  Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  went  to 
the  field  as  lieutenant-colonel,  being  advanced  to  the  chief  command  on  the  death  of  Colonel 
Russell,  Feb.  8,  1862.     Drake  died  of  quick  consumption  June  5,  1862,  aged  twenty-eight. 

5  Brigadier-General  Griffin  A.  Stedman  was  born  in  Hartford,  Jan.  6,  1838;  he  was  gradu- 
ated at  Trinity  College  in  1859,  and  after  reading  law  for  a  year  entered  the  office  of  Mr.  S.  H. 


THE   WAR   OF   THE   REBELLION.  93 

Twelfth  Infantry.  —  Colonel  Henry  C.  Deming,1  Hartford. 

Fourteenth  Infantry.  —  Colonel  Theodore  G.  Ellis,  Hartford  (brevet  brigadier- 
general)  ;   Lieutenant-Colonel  S.  A.  Moore,  New  Britain. 

Sixteenth  Infantry.  —  Colonel  Frank  Beach,  Hartford  ;  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Frank  W.  Cheney,  Manchester;  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  H.  Burnhain,  Hart- 
ford. 

Twentieth  Infantry.  —  Colonel  Samuel  Ross,  Hartford. 

Twenty-second  Infantry.  —  Colonel  George  S.  Burnham,  Hartford. 

Twenty-fifth  Infantry.  —  Colonel  George  P.  Bissell,  Hartford ;  Major  Thomas 
McManus,  Hartford. 

Thirtieth  Infantry  (colored).  —  Colonel  Henry  C.  Ward,  Hartford. 

The  Fourth  Regiment  was  changed  into  the  First  Heavy  Artil- 
lery, —  one  of  the  most  noted  artillery  regiments  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac. 

The  names  of  many  Hartford  and  Hartford  County  citizens  noted 
for  their  patriotism  suggest  themselves,  —  those  who  did  noble  service 
in  the  field,  and  those,  equally  patriotic,  who  could  not  go  to  the  front, 
but  by  their  contributions  and  by  their  energy  did  no  less  valuable  work 
at  home.  No  city  of  its  size  in  the  Union  can  point  to  a  more  honora- 
ble record. 

The  women  of  Hartford  County  were  among  the  very  first  to  organ- 
ize for  the  care  of  sick  and  wounded  soldiers.  The  firing  upon  Fort 
Sumter  was  the  signal  for  commencing  preparations  for  the  impending 
struggle,  —  at  first  by  a  few  ladies,  who  met  in  private  parlors,  rolling 
bandages  and  making  lint  for  the  wounded.  This  soon  led  to  more 
extended  efforts,  which  finally  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Hart- 
Perkins,  of  Philadelphia.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  enlisted  in  the  Washington  Grays, 
of  Philadelphia,  but  came  to  Hartford,  where  the  Fifth  Regiment  was  forming,  raised  a  com- 
pany, and  went  into  the  field  as  captain  of  Company  I.  He  manifested  so  much  ability  as  a 
soldier  that  when  the  Eleventh  Regiment  was  raised  he  was  appointed  its  major.  At  Antie- 
tam,  after  Colonel  H.  W.  Kingsbury  was  killed,  he  led  the  regiment  in  the  famous  assault 
upon  the  Stone  Bridge,  which  Burnside  carried  and  held.  He  was  severely  wounded  during 
the  battle,  and  was  promoted  to  be  colonel.  He  commanded  the  Eleventh  from  this  time  until 
the  beginning  of  General  Grant's  advance  upon  Richmond,  when  he  was  assigned  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Second  Brigade,  Second  Division  of  the  Eighteenth  Army  Corps.  He  gained  a 
high  reputation  for  coolness,  intrepidity,  and  military  skill,  and  on  the  recommendation  of  all 
his  superior  officers  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General,  his  commission  being  on 
its  way  when  on  the  evening  of  Aug.  5,  1S64,  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Virginia,  he  was  mor- 
tally wounded  by  a  random  shot.  He  died  the  next  morning.  General  Ames,  by  whose  side 
he  was  standing  when  he  received  his  death-wound,  in  announcing  the  event  to  General  Ord, 
said  the  country  had  lost  one  of  the  finest  soldiers  in  the  army.  He  fell  at  the  early  age  of 
twenty-six  years,  having  won  his  way  to  high  rank  and  having  exhibited  qualities  which  gave 
pronnse  of  a  glorious  and  useful  career.  From  Ball's  Bluff  with  the  Fifth,  through  all  the 
battles  of  the  Eleventh,  at  Newbern,  South  Mountain,  Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  Suffolk, 
Drury's  Bluff,  and  Cold  Harbor,  up  to  the  last  contest  before  Petersburg,  he  was  foremost 
in  battle,  disposing  our  lines,  heading  our  charges,  careful  of  his  men,  prodigal  of  his  own 
life,  always  brave,  always  cool.  He  lived  and  died  nobly,  without  fear  and  without  re- 
proach. Well-bred,  highly  cultured,  rich,  witli  brilliant  intellectual  gifts,  and  with  a  life  of 
elegant  ease  at  his  command,  he  gave  all  to  his  country,  and  accepted  the  result  without  a 
murmur. 

1  The  Hon.  Henry  C.  Deming  was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1836,  and  before  the 
war  was  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Hartford,  and  had  served  in  both  branches  of  the  legislature, 
being  Speaker  of  the  House  in  the  session  of  1861.  For  six  years  he  was  mayor  of  Hartford. 
In  the  fall  of  1861  he  was  appointed  Colonel  of  the  Twelfth  Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  with 
his  regiment  went  with  (Jeneral  Butler's  expedition  against  New  Orleans.  Alter  the  capture 
of  the  city  he  was  appointed  mayor,  which  position  lie  held  until  February,  1863,  when  he 
resigned,  returned  home,  and  was  elected  to  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress.  lie  served  lor  two 
terms.  Afterward  he  was  Collector  of  Internal  Revenue  for  the  State.  He  excelled  as  an 
orator.     He  died  in  1872. 


94  MEMORIAL  HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

ford  Soldiers'  Aid  Association,  for  the  care  of  "  Connecticut  soldiers." 
When  some  months  afterward  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission 
was  organized,  this  Aid  Association  was  wrell  established  and  prepared 
to  contribute  valuable  supplies  to  that  admirable  agency.  The  energy 
and  industry  of  the  women  were  nobly  supplemented  and  sustained  by 
the  unbounded  liberality  of  moneyed  men.  As  a  financial  centre  the 
city  furnished  money  and  materials,  which  were  prepared  for  the  needle 
by  the  Hartford  women,  and  made  up  by  societies  in  all  the  neighbor- 
ing towns  and  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  county.  Valuable  donations 
of  supplies  poured  in  from  town  and  country,  and  it  was  remarked  that 
every  housewife  gave  of  her  very  best.  No  inferior  material  was 
allowed  to  be  used,  and  wherever  the  hospital  clothing  and  other  com- 
forts bearing  the  stamp  of  this  Soldiers'  Aid  Association  found  its  way, 
they  were  remarked  for  their  unrivalled  excellence.  From  regimental 
surgeons  and  chaplains  by  whom  they  were  received,  from  hospitals 
both  temporary  and  permanent,  and  even  from  Southern  prisons,  came 
most  grateful  acknowledgments  of  the  comfort  afforded  by  these  varied 
appliances  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  The  talent  of  the  younger  ladies 
was  devoted  to  the  arranging  of  dramatic  and  other  entertainments 
given  for  the  purpose  of  replenishing  the  treasury ;  and  the  most  bril- 
liant series  of  tableaux  ever  exhibited  in  this  county  were  a  memora- 
ble example  of  the  success  attending  these  efforts.  The  two  ladies 
who  were  at  the  head  of  these  relief  organizations  were  Mrs.  John 
Olmstead  and  Mrs.  S.  S.  Cowen. 

The  wrork  of  the  Soldiers'  Aid  Association  was  carried  on  with 
unabated  energy  and  interest  until  the  close  of  the  war,  and  during  its 
existence  more  than  thirty  thousand  dollars  in  cash,  and  even  a  larger 
amount  in  other  contributions,  was  received  and  distributed.  Retain- 
ing its  independent  organization  to  the  last,  it  was  able  to  assist  by 
its  contributions  both  sanitary  and  Christian  associations,  and  also 
to  respond  to  constant  calls  from  Connecticut  regiments.  The  record 
of  donations  of  money  is  now  placed  in  the  safe-keeping  .of  the  Con- 
necticut Historical  Society,  where  the  names  and  benefactions  of  the 
patriotic  men  and  women  of  that  day  are  duly  recorded.  Of  those 
noble  women  who  gave  their  time  and  energies  as  well  as  their  prayers 
and  tears  to  this  beneficent  work,  few  now  survive ;  and  to  them  and 
to  their  representatives  was  committed,  by  the  courtesy  of  General 
Hawley,  the  sacred  charge  of  preparing  for  removal  to  the  Capitol  the 
battle-flags  which  constitute  one  of  the  choicest  possessions  of  the 
State. 

At  a  special  town-meeting  in  Hartford,  July  10,  1862,  the  sum  of 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
moting enlistments  and  granting  aid  to  the  families  of  enlisted  men. 
The  following  committee  was  appointed  to  supervise  the  expenditures 
under  this  appropriation :  William  J.  Hamef  sley,  Allyn  S.  Stillman, 
Calvin  Day,  Charles  Cheney,  John  C.  Palmer,  A.  S.  Beckwith,  Charles 
T.  Hillyer,  E.  H.  Owen,  James  G.  Batterson,  N.  M.  Waterman,  Frank 
Howard,  William  H.  Green,  A.  E.  Burr,  James  B.  Powell,  David  Clark, 
John  T.  McManus,  Sidney  A.  Ensign,  William  M.  Charter,  Hawley 
Kellogg,  Horace  Ensworth,  Henry  Selling,  John  McGoodin,  Horace 
Lord,  Joseph  Pratt,  and  James  White.  This  was  known  as  the  War 
Committee.     This  same  meeting  adopted  the  following  vote  :  — 


THE   WAR   OF   THE   REBELLION.  95 

"  Resolved,  That  no  efforts  on  the  part  of  this  Government  should  be 
spared  to  preserve  the  union  of  the  States,  and  to  put  down  the  atrocious  re- 
bellion ;  and,  further,  that  we  will  never  submit  to  any  foreign  intervention. 
Republicanism  does  not  need  the  nursing  care  of  monarchs  and  emperors." 

Upon  application  of  Caleb  Clapp  and  ninety-five  others,  a  special 
meeting  was  held,  Sept.  17,  1862,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the 
propriety  of  providing-  support  for  the  families  of  drafted  men,  and  also 
of  paying  bounties  to  such  men.  The  meeting  adjourned  without 
action,  the  moderator  (Allvn  S.  Stillman)  stating  that  legal  advice  had 
been  given  that  no  appropriation  could  be  made  for  drafted  men  at  the 
meeting. 

A  special  meeting  was  held,  Sept.  18,  1862,  upon  application  of 
James  Goodwin  and  twenty-five  other  electors,  at  which  the  Hon. 
William  J.  Hamersley  presided,  and  the  following  preamble  and  reso- 
lutions were  adopted  after  an  animated  discussion :  — 

"  Whereas,  The  Committee  of  Citizens  of  Hartford  appointed  at  a  town- 
meeting  held  on  the  19th  day  of  July,  1862,  did,  at  a  regular  meeting  of  said 
committee,  held  on  Tuesday  evening,  Sept.  16,  1862,  unanimously  pass  the 
following  resolution  : 

'"Voted,  That  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars  each  be  paid  to  such  citizens 
of  this  town  as  have  recently  been  drafted,  and  that  the  same  provision  be  made 
for  the  family  as  has  already  been  made  for  the  families  of  the  nine  months'  vol- 
unteers ;  it  being  understood,  however,  that  the  benefits  of  this  appropriation  are 
not  to  extend  to  those  who  serve  as  substitutes,  or  to  those  who  are  detailed  for 
service  in  workshops  or  manufactories,  or  who  may  be  excused  from  service  as 
soldiers  by  competent  authority  :  Voted,  That  the  foregoing  appropriations  shall 
not  be  paid  until  the  principal  or  his  substitute  shall  have  been  regularly  sworn 
and  mustered  into  the  United  States  service.'  And  whereas  this  meeting  does 
approve  said  action  on  the  part  of  said  committee,  '  Voted,  That  this  meeting  do 
endorse  and  ratify  said  votes,  and  do  hereby  authorize  and  empower  said  com- 
mittee (known  as  the  War  Committee)  to  make  such  appropriations  as  are  con- 
templated by  said  votes,  and  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  thereof.'  " 

The  meeting  voted  an  additional  appropriation  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  these 
votes ;  and  also  voted  that  persons  who  had  enlisted  into  the  service 
and  had  subsequently  been  elected  and  commissioned  as  officers  were 
nevertheless  entitled  to  the  bounty  paid  to  enlisted  men. 

At  a  town-meeting  in  December,  1862,  William  L.  Collins,  N.  H. 
Morgan,  and  George  Brinley  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a 
plan  for  funding  the  war-debt.  They  reported  Dec.  23,  1862,  and  in 
accordance  with  their  recommendation  six  per  cent  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  #200,000  were  issued,  falling  due  in  sums  of  $10,000 
annually  after  Jan.  1,  1874.  The  total  amount  of  this  debt,  principal 
and  interest,  was  #826,000.  A  special  meeting  July  23,  1863,  voted 
$200,000  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  town  for  the  care  of  depen- 
dent families  of  drafted  men.  A  special  meeting  Aug.  15,  1864,  voted 
a  sum  not  exceeding  $500,000  to  be  used  by  the  selectmen  in  filling  the 
quota  of  Hartford  under  the  last  draft.  It  does  not  appear,  however, 
that  this  money  was  used,  and  Nov.  26,  1864,  the  sum  of  $200,000 
was  appropriated  for  the  same  purpose,  and  a  committee  consist- 
ing of  Calvin  Day,  J.  Hurlbut  White,  Thomas  T.  Fisher,  and  Fred- 


96  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

erick  S.  Brown  was  appointed  to  disburse  the  money  in  procuring 
enlistments. 

Unfortunately  the  State  has  no  record  of  its  sons  who  served  in  the 
navy  ;  and  there  are  no  town  or  county  statistics  on  this  point,  although 
Hartford  County  furnished  the  Hon.  Gideon  Welles,  the  chief  of  the 
Navy  Department,  quite  a  number  of  distinguished  officers,  and  several 
hundred  sailors,  the  county  having  representatives  in  every  squadron. 
Among  naval  officers  who  achieved  distinction  Hartford  furnished 
the  lamented  Commander  Ward,  and  Lieutenant-Commanders  Francis 
M.  Bunce,  Edward  Terry,1  and  Henry  C.  White.  The  service  rendered 
by  Mr.  William  Faxon,  as  chief  clerk  of  the  Navy  Bureau,  was  inval- 
uable. He  was  throughout  the  war  the  efficient  right-hand  man  of 
Secretary  Welles. 

The  more  than  twelve  thousand  men  from  this  county  who  entered 
the  military  service  were  scattered  among  twenty-nine  regiments  or 
batteries;  namely,  —  the  First,  Second,  and  Third  Regiments  (three 
months')  ;  the  Cavalry  Squadron  and  the  Cavalry  Regiment ;  the  First 
and  Second  Light  Batteries  ;  the  two  Heavy  Artillery  Regiments  ; 
the  Fifth,  Sixth,  Seventh,  Eighth,  Ninth,  Tenth,  Eleventh,  Twelfth, 
Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  Fifteenth,  Sixteenth,  Twentieth,  Twenty- 
first  (three  years'  men)  ;  Twenty-second,  Twenty-fourth,  Twenty -fifth, 
Twenty-seventh  (nine  months');  and  the  Twenty-ninth  and  Thirtieth 
(colored).  In  some  of  these  commands  the  number  from  this  county 
was  small ;  in  others  there  were  two  or  more  companies  ;  while  other 
regiments,  like  the  First,  Sixteenth,  Twenty-second,  and  Twenty-fifth, 
were  regarded  as  Hartford  County  organizations,  although  not  formed 
exclusively  within  county  lines. 

To  tell  what  these  men  did  in  the  field  would  be  to  recall  in  large 
part  the  history  of  the  war.  From  the  muster-in  of  the  First  Regiment 
of  three  months'  men  in  April,  1861,  to  the  muster-out  of  the  Veteran 
Battalion  of  the  Thirteenth  in  April,  1866,  —  from  Bull  Run,  where  the 
First  Connecticut  left  the  disastrous  field  in  1  tetter  shape  than  any 

1  Commander  Edward  Terry,  U.  S.  N.,  was  born  in  Hartford,  Jan.  22,  1839  ;  was  gradu- 
ated at  the  Naval  Academy  in  1857  ;  served  with  East  India  and  Mediterranean  squadrons 
until  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion,  when  the  "Eichmond,"  to  which  he  was  attached,  was 
ordered  to  the  "West  Gulf  Squadron,"  under  Farragut.  He  participated  in  the  operations 
by  which  the  Lower  Mississippi  was  opened,  including  the  passage  of  Forts  Jackson  and  St. 
Philip,  the  capture,  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  operations  against  Port  Hudson.  At  the  latter 
place  he  commanded  a  battery  of  heavy  guns  which  were  landed  from  the  "Richmond  "  to 
assist  in  the  siege,  and  which  did  very  effective  work.  He  was  also  executive  officer  of  the 
"  Eichmond,"  under  Captain  Jenkins,  at  the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay,  Aug.  5, 1864.  After  the  war 
he  served  successively  in  the  South  Pacific  ;  at  the  Naval  Academy  (where  from  1867  to  1870 
he  was  Professor  of  Naval  Gunnery,  and  from  1874  to  1878  wTas  Commandant  of  Cadets);  com- 
manded the  United  States  Steamship  "Saco"  in  the  European  and  Asiatic  squadrons  from  1870 
to  1873.  In  1878  he  was  ordered  as  chief  of  staff  to  Rear-Admiral  Rodgers,  commanding  the 
Pacific  squadron,  and  the  following  year  was  prostrated  with  pneumonia,  from  the  effects  of 
which  he  died  June  1, 1882.  Commander  Terry  was  connected  with  the  oldest  families  of  Con- 
necticut. His  father.  Dr.  Edward  P.  Terry,  was  a  son  of  General  Nathaniel  Terry,  M.  ('.,  fourth 
mayor  of  Hartford.  He  was  related  also  to  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  founder  of  the  colony, 
to  "the  worshipful"  Mr.  John  Talcott,  the  Goodwins,  William  Whiting,  and  others  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Connecticut,  and  through  another  line  to  Governor  William  Bradford,  of  Plym- 
outh Colony.  Admiral  Rodgers  wrote  of  him:  "Singularly  modest  in  his  nature,  very 
gentle  in  his  judgment  of  others,  a  thoughtful,  studious  man  of  much  culture  and  sound 
judgment,  he  was  at  the  same  time  a  calm,  intrepid  seaman,  of  fiery  energy,  but  imperturb- 
able in  the  greatest  peril,  and  equal  to  every  emergency.  The  writer  of  these  lines  served 
with  him  continuously  during  the  last  six  years  of  his  active  service,  and  leai-ned  to  think 
him  a  man  witli  no  superior  in  the  navy.  He  was  a  reverent  believer  in  the  great  truths  of 
religion,  and  he  was  a  gentleman  without  fear  and  without  reproach." 


THE   WAR  OF  THE   REBELLION.  97 

other  command  except  the  regulars,  —  through  every  campaign  of  the 
long  war,  in  every  important  engagement  on  land  or  sea,  Hartford 
County  was  honorably  represented.  The  flag  of  the  State  was  borne 
with  honor  by  men  of  the  county  wherever  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
marched  or  halted,  and  the  blood  of  the  best  of  her  sons  crimsoned 
every  great  battle-field  of  that  army,  —  Fredericksburg,  Chancellors- 
ville,  Antietam,  Gettysburg,  the  Wilderness,  Petersburg,  and  the  cam- 
paigns against  Richmond.  They  were  at  Roanoke  with  Burnside  on 
his  expedition ;  with  Banks  in  his  fatal  repulse  at  Cedar  Mountain  ; 
with  Butler  and  Banks  in  Louisiana ;  at  the  capture  of  Fort  Pulaski 
and  of  Fort  Fisher  ;  in  the  fatal  assaults  at  Fort  Wagner  and  the  deadly 
attempts  on  Port  Hudson ;  at  Irish  Bend,  Louisiana ;  with  Sherman  in 
his  march  to  the  sea ;  with  Sheridan  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  at 
Winchester,  Fisher's  Hill,  and  Cedar  Creek ;  at  the  capture  of  New 
Orleans,  Atlanta,  Mobile,  and  Richmond  ;  and  at  the  final  surrender  of 
Lee  at  Appomattox.  No  important  event  took  place  in  the  armies  of 
the  East  and  South  at  which  Hartford  County  soldiers  were  not  present 
in  positions  of  honor.  And  not  only  in  the  volunteer  armies,  but  also 
in  the  regular  army  and  navy,  the  county  was  honorably  represented. 
Brevet  Major  J.  Hartwell  Butler,  of  Hartford,  commanded  a  company 
of  the  Second  Artillery  United  States  Army,  and  lost  a  leg  in  action. 
Other  Hartford  officers  of  the  army  were  General  Robert  0.  Tyler,1 

1  Major-General  Robert  Ogclen  Tyler,  U.  S.  A.,  was  born  Dec.  22,  1831,  in  Hunter, 
Greene  County,  New  York,  the  son  of  Frederick  and  Sophia  Tyler.  His  paternal  grandfather 
was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  and  three  of  his  paternal  uncles  were  officers  of  the  re°-ular 
army,  one  of  them  being  General  Daniel  Tyler.  The  family  was  of  Connecticut  origin,*3  and 
removed  to  Hartford  when  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  eight  years  old.  He  was  graduated 
from  West  Point  in  the  famous  class  of  1853,  McPherson,  Scofield,  and  Vincent  being  anions 
his  classmates.  After  graduation  he  became  a  lieutenant  in  the  Third  Artillery.  In°1854  he 
crossed  the  country,  with  Colonel  Steptoe's  command,  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific, 
spending  the  winter  at  Salt  Lake.  He  was  stationed  for  several  years  on  the  Pacific  coast,' 
and  took  part  in  several  Indian  campaigns.  In  1859  he  was  attached  to  T.  W.  Sherman's 
light  battery  in  Minnesota,  and  the  next  year  joined  his  regiment  at  Fort  Columbus,  New 
York  Harbor,  where  he  remained  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war.  He  went  with  the 
expedition  intended  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter  in  April,  1861,  witnessed  the  bombardment  from 
a  distance,  and  returned  to  New  York  on  the  same  steamer  with  Major  Anderson  and  his 
command.  After  brief  service  on  the  staff  of  General  Patterson  he  took  command,  in  May,  of 
a  light  battery,  with  which  he  assisted  in  opening  the  communications  through  Baltimore. 
He  was  appointed,  May  17,  1861,  a  captain  in  the  Quartermaster  Department,  and  established 
the  supply  depots  at  Alexandria,  Virginia.  In  September,  1861,  he  was  appointed  Colonel  of 
the  Fourth  Connecticut  Volunteers  (afterward  the  First  Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery),  —  a  fine 
regiment,  which  had  become  temporarily  demoralized  by  bad  management.  Under  the  charge 
of  Colonel  Tyler  the  regiment  was  transformed  into  the  finest  artillery  regiment  of  the  Volun- 
teer Service,  and  was  employed  in  the  defences  of  Washington.  In  April,  1862,  Tyler  was 
given  command  of  the  siege-train  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  conducted  seventv-one 
pieces  of  artillery  to  Yorktown,  and  thence  with  great  difficulty  removed  it.  In  the  subse- 
quent movements  on  Richmond  Colonel  Tyler  received  high  commendations  for  the  distin- 
guished part  taken  by  his  regiment  in  the  capture  of  Hanover  Court-House  and  in  the 
battles  of  Gaines  Mill  and  Malvern  Hill.  When  General  McClellan  retired  upon  Washing- 
ton, Colonel  Tyler's  regiment  did  splendid  service,  in  concert  with  the  gunboats,  in  protecting 
the  rear  of  the  army.  For  his  brilliant  services  in  this  campaign,  and  for  his  skill  and  success 
in  saving  his  siege-train  under  the  most  trying  circumstances,  he  was  appointed  a  brigadier- 
general,  Nov.  29,  1862.  He  was  then  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  artillery  of  the  Centre 
Grand  Division  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  under  Burnside,  and  did  gallant  service  at 
Fredericksburg.  On  May  2,  1863,  he  was  assigned  to  command  the  "Artillery  Reserve"  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  played  an  important  part  in  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville 
and  in  the  pursuit  of  Lee's  army  into  Pennsylvania.  Major-General  Cullum  writes  of  his 
service  :  "  At  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  this  Artillery  Reserve  comprised  over  one  hundred  and 
thirty  guns  and  more  than  three  hundred  ammunition  wagons.  The  grand  part  which  the 
artillery  played  in  this  death-struggle  with  the  Confederacy  is  too  well  known  to  require 
description.  Impatiently  awaiting  the  signal  for  action,  Hunt,  the  chief,  and  Tyler,  his  able 
vol.  I.  —  7. 


98  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Colonel  Frank  Beach,1  Brevet  Major  James  B.  Burbank  (now  of  the 
Third  Artillery). 

Perhaps  no  other  single  engagement  of  the  war  proved  so  disastrous 
to  the  men  of  this  State,  especially  to  those  of  this  county,  as  the  battle 
of  Antietam,  Sept.  17,  1862,  in  which  the  Eighth,  Eleventh,  Fourteenth, 
and  Sixteenth  regiments  participated,  the  latter  having  just  entered  the 
service  and  being  entirely  ignorant  of  battalion  movements.  The  Con- 
necticut troops  were  in  the  thickest  of  the  light  on  the  left  of  the  Union 
line,  General  Edward  Harland,  of  Norwich,  commanding  the  brigade. 
No  braver  lighting  against  overwhelming  odds  was  ever  witnessed,  and 
the  losses  in  killed  and  wounded  were  terrible.  The  Eighth  lost  34 
killed  and  139  wounded  ;  the  Eleventh,  38  killed  and  97  wounded  ;  the 
Fourteenth,  21  killed  and  88  wounded ;  and  the  Sixteenth,  43  killed 
and  142  wounded,  —  making  a  total  of  136  killed  and  466  wounded. 
Among  the  killed  were  a  large  number  of  officers,  including  General 
Mansfield  of  the  regular  army  ;  Colonel  Kingsbury  of  the  Eleventh; 
and   from   this    county,  Captain    J.   E.  Blinn  of  New  Britain,  of  the 

assistant,  opened  with  almost  one  hundred  guns,  from  Cemetery  Hill  to  the  Round  Tops, 
upon  Pickett's  magnificent  assaulting  column,  tearing  vast  gaps  in  the  advancing  ranks,  and 
almost  annihilating  that  proud  array  of  eighteen  thousand  of  the  hest  Southern  infantry. 
General  Tyler,  in  this  battle  of  the  giants,  had  two  horses  shot  under  him,  and  his  coolness, 
skill,  and  intrepidity  contributed  greatly  to  the  success  of  the  final  struggle."  After  Gettys- 
burg, General  Tyler  was  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy  to  Culpepper,  and  commanded 
the  artillery  in  the  combat  of  Rappahannock  Station  and  at  Mine  Run.  From  January  to 
May,  1S64,  he  was  a  division  commander  in  the  Twenty-second  Army  Corps,  covering  the 
capital  and  the  communications  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  afterward,  in  command  of 
a  division  of  heavy  artillery,  was  attached  to  the  Second  Army  Corps.  He  won  new  distinc- 
tion at  the  opening  of  the  Richmond  campaign  in  the  battles  about  Spottsylvania,  where  his 
command,  acting  as  infantry,  occupied  the  extreme  right  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
repulsed  (May  19,  1864)  a  furious  assault  by  Swell's  corps.  In  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy  which 
followed,  General  Tyler's  command  fought  at  North  Anna,  Tolopotoniy,  and  Cold  Harbor. 
In  the  last-named  battle  he  was  severely  wounded  ami  disabled  by  a  ritle-ball  through  his 
ankle,  —  a  wound  which  ended  his  active  service,  and  which  gave  his  vigorous  constitution  a 
shock  from  which  it  never  fully  recovered.  He  was  brevetted  a  major  in  the  regular  army 
for  Fredericksburg,  lieutenant-colonel  for  Gettysburg,  colonel  for  Spottsylvania,  brigadier- 
general  for  Cold  Harbor,  and  major-general  "  for  gallant  and  meritorious  services  in  the  field 
during  the  Piebellion."  He  also  received  a  sixth  brevet  —  that  of  major-general  of  United 
States  Volunteers —  "for  great  gallantry  at  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor."  The  citizens  of 
Hartford  presented  him  with  a  sword  in  appreciation  of  his  personal  gallantly,  and  the  legis- 
lature of  Connecticut  passed  a  resolution  of  thanks  in  his  honor.  His  wound  was  so  far 
healed,  after  a  six  months'  leave  of  absence,  that  he  was  able  to  go  on  duty  as  a  commissioner 
for  the  disbursement  of  the  cotton  fund  for  the  supply  of  Rebel  prisoners,  and  subsequently 
was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  District  of  Delaware  and  the  Eastern  Shore,  with  head- 
quarters at  Philadelphia.  On  the  reorganization  of  the  army,  General  Tyler,  July  29,  1866, 
was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel  ami  deputy  quartermaster-general.  His  failing  health  led 
him  to  visit  Europe  in  1868-1869  ;  and  again  in  1872  he  secured  a  year's  leave  of  absence,  and 
took  a  journey  around  the  world.  His  journal  while  in  India  has  been  published  in  book 
form,  as  an  appendix  to  a  brief  memoir  from  the  pen  of  his  friend  General  George  W.  Cullum, 
U.  S.  A.  (J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  Philadelphia,  1878).  General  Tyler  died  suddenly  at  his 
post  of  duty,  Boston,  Dec.  1,  1874,  aged  nearly  forty-three.  He  was  buried  at  Cedar  Hill 
Cemetery,  Hartford,  with  the  military  honors  due  to  his  rank  and  his  distinguished  services. 

1  Colonel  Frank  Beach  was  a  son  of  George  Beach,  for  many  years  president  of  the  Phoenix 
Bank,  Hartford.  He  was  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1857,  and  in  subsequent  campaigns  in 
Utah  and  on  the  Plains  his  health  was  seriously  injured.  When  the  war  broke  out  he  was 
adjutant  at  Fort  McHenry.  In  the  summer  of  1862  he  was  appointed  Colonel  of  the  Sixteenth 
Connecticut  Volunteers.  His  regiment  had  the  misfortune  to  be  ordered  into  the  fight  at 
Antietam  before  it  had  had  an  opportunity  for  a  battalion  drill,  and  was  terribly  cut  to 
pieces,  although  Colonel  Beach  exhibited  reckless  bravery  in  his  efforts  to  rally  and  lead 
them.  Colonel  Beach  was  taken  prisoner  with  his  regiment  at  Plymouth,  North  Carolina, 
when  that  outpost  was  surprised  and  captured.  After  his  exchange  ill  health  prevented  his 
further  service  in  the  field.  He  never  recovered  his  strength,  and  he  died  in  New  York, 
Feb.  5,  1873. 


THE    WAR   OF   THE   REBELLION.  99 

Fourteenth  ;  and  from  the  Sixteenth,  Captains  Samuel  Brown  of  Enfield, 
Frederick  M.  Barber  of  Manchester,  John  L.  Drake  of  Hartford,  and 
Newton  S.  Manross  of  Bristol.1  Of  Company  I  of  the  Sixteenth,  Cap- 
tain  Drake,  First  Lieutenant  Horton,  First  Sergeant  Orville  Campbell  of 
New  Britain,  and  Second  Sergeant  Thomas  McCarty  of  Hartford  were 
killed  ;  Third  Sergeant  Rufus  Chamberlain  of  Stafford  was  mortally 
wounded.  Sergeants  W.  A.  Washburn  of  Berlin  and  Charles  C.  King 
of  East  Windsor  were  among  the  killed  in  Company  G.  Among  the 
wounded  at  Antietam  were  Lieutenant-Colonel  Frank  W.  Cheney  (Six- 
teenth) of  Manchester,  Sergeant  Frederick  R.  Eno  (Fourteenth)  of 
Bloomfield,  Captains  Charles  Babcock  of  Canton  and  Nathaniel  Harden 
of  Hartford  (both  of  the  Sixteenth).  No  other  battle  of  the  war 
brought  so  much  sorrow  to  Connecticut. 

The  death-roll  of  the  county,  of  those  who  were  killed  or  died  in  the 
service,  amounts  to  nearly  thirteen  hundred,  to  which  might  be  added 
the  many  who  have  died  since  the  war  from  diseases  caused  by  wounds 
or  exposure.  The  graves  are  on  every  great  battle-field,  and  scattered 
through  many  States.  To  the  list  Hartford  contributed  very  largely, 
among  the  more  distinguished  of  her  dead  sons  being  General  Griffin 
A.  Stedman,  Captain  James  Harmon  Ward  2  (Navy),  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Thomas    S.    Trumbull3    (First   Heavy    Artillery),    Major    Henry    W. 

1  Newton  S.  Manross  was  a  highly  educated  and  accomplished  gentleman,  a  graduate  of 
Yale,  and  just  before  entering  the  service  had  been  elected  Processor  of  Chemistry  and  Botany 
in  Amherst  College. 

2  James  Harmon  Ward,  17.  S.  N.,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  was  recognized  as  one 
of  the  most  intelligent  and  promising  officers  of  the  navy,  being  of  mature  years,  and  having 
established  a  brilliant  reputation.  He  was  born  in  Hartford  in  1806,  the  soil  of  Colonel  James 
Ward,  commissary-general  of  the  War  of  1812.  He  entered  the  navy  as  midshipman  on  the 
old  frigate  "  Constitution  "  in  1823.  He  was  the  author  of  the  "Manual  of  Naval  Tactics  " 
published  about  1835.  In  1842  he  delivered  a  course  of  popular  lectures  in  Philadelphia  on 
Gunnery,  in  which  he  advocated  the  establishment  of  a  naval  school,  and  when  the  school 
was  founded  he  became  one  of  its  foremost  professors  and  so  continued  until  the  outbreak  of 
the  Rebellion.  He  was  then  summoned  to  Washington,  where  he  speedily  organized  (or  cre- 
ated) the  Potomac  flotilla,  our  first  effective  naval  force,  of  which  he  was  given  command  May 
16,  1861.  Only  a  month  later,  while  endeavoring  to  silence  a  Rebel  battery  at  Acquia  Creek, 
he  was  killed  by  a  sharp  shooter.  He  was  buried  in  Hartford,  from  St.  Patrick's  Church,  with 
the  highest  military  honors.  Those  who  knew  him  best  regarded  his  death  at  that  time  as  a 
greater  loss  to  the  country  than  would  have  been  the  loss  of  a  division  of  troops. 

3  Thomas  Swan  Trumbull  was  born  at  Stonington,  Feb.  15,  1835  ;  died  at  Wash- 
ington, D.C.,  March  30,  1865.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  Mr.  Trumbull,  a  graduate  of 
the  Harvard  Law  School,  was  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  New  York  City.  At  once 
he  enlisted  as  a  recruit  in  the  famous  Seventh  Regiment  of  New  York,  with  the  purpose  of 
following  it  to  Washington.  He  received  word  that  no  more  recruits  would  be  needed  there. 
Then  he  hastened  to  Hartford,  where  he  had  a  similar  experience  in  his  enlistment  into  the 
company  of  Captain  —  afterward  General —  Hawley  ;  the  later  names  on  the  roll  of  that  com- 
pany being  stricken  off  to  reduce  it  to  regulation  standard.  Yet  again  he  enlisted,  into  the 
Third  Connecticut  Regiment,  under  Colonel  Levi  Woodhouse,  and  was,  at  the  latter's  request, 
transferred  with  him  when  he  was  given  command  of  the  Fourth  Regiment, — the  first  from 
the  State  for  a  three  years'  term.  Appointed  First  Lieutenant  and  Adjutant,  Trumbull  left 
for  the  front,  with  his  regiment,  June  10,  and  first  saw  service  on  the  Upper  Potomac,  under 
General  Patterson  and  General  B-anks.  The  regiment  being  changed  into  the  First  Connecti- 
cut Heavy  Artillery,  under  Colonel  Robert  0.  Tyler,  an  officer  of  the  regular  army,  Adjutant 
Trumbull  was  promoted  to  a  majorship,  March  1,  1862  ;  the  Colonel  taking  this  unusual  step, 
as  he  said,  "  solely  for  the  good  of  the  service,  and  because  of  Trumbull's  extraordinary  capa- 
city as  an  artillery  officer."  From  doing  duty  in  the  defences  of  Washington,  the  regiment 
went  forward  as  the  siege-train  of  General  McCIellan  in  the  campaign  against  Yorktown  and 
in  the  Peninsula.  Major  Trumbull  had  charge  of  one  of  the  most  important  batteries  before 
Yorktown  ;  and  he  fought  through  the  campaign  with  his  regiment,  down  to  the  close  of  the 
series  of  battles  around  Richmond,  in  the  battle  of  Malvern  Hill.  While  yet  on  the  Upper 
Potomac  Trumbull  had  received  an  injury,  by  the  fall  of  his  horse,  from  the  effects  of  which 
he  never  entirely  recovered.     The  pestilential  influences  of  the  Chickahominy  Swamp  aided  in 


100  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Camp1  (Tenth),  Captain  Henry  A.  Wells  (Tenth),  Lieutenant  John  C. 
Coffing  (Tenth),  Captain  Horatio  D.  Eaton  (Sixth),  Adjutant  Heber  S. 
Smith  (Fifth),  Lieutenant  John  H.  Wilson  (Seventh),  Captain  Edwin  R. 
Lee  (Eleventh),  Captain  William  H.  Sackett  (Eleventh),  Captain  Wil- 
liam S.  Buckley  (Twelfth),  Captain  Charles  A.  Tennant  (Sixteenth), 
Lieutenant  John  M.  Waters  (Sixteenth),  Captain  Henry  C.  Smith 
(Twentieth),  Captain  Oliver  R.  Post  (Twentieth). 

From  other  towns  the  names  are  recalled  of  Colonel  Albert  W. 
Drake  (Tenth)  of  South  Windsor  ;  Colonel  Richard  E.  Holcoinb  of 
East  Granby,  who  was  shot  through  the  heart  at  Port  Hudson  while 
leading  the  First  Louisiana  Regiment,  to  the  command  of  which  he  had 
been  promoted  from  major  of  the  Thirteenth ;  Major  Joseph  H.  Con- 
verse (Eleventh)  of  Windsor  Locks,  killed  at  Cold  Harbor ;  Captain 
Joseph  R.  Toy  (Twelfth)  of  Simsbury ;  Lieutenant  Horace  E.  Phelps 
(Twelfth)  of  Windsor  Locks,  killed  at  Cedar  Creek  ;  Lieutenant  Theo- 
dore A.  Stanley  (Fourteenth)  of  New  Britain,  killed  at  Fredericksburg ; 
Captain    Samuel   S.    Hayden(  (Twenty-fifth),   killed    at    Irish   Bend, 

sapping  his  life  forces  ;  but  he  battled  with  disease  as  bravely  as  with  the  enemies  of  his  Gov- 
ernment. Again,  in  the  defences  of  Washington,  Major  Trumbull  was  in  command  of  Forts 
Richardson,  Scott,  and  Barnard.  In  December,  1862,  he  was  in  command  of  two  companies 
and  their  batteries,  under  General  Burnside,  at  Fredericksburg.  In  the  spring  of  1864  the 
regiment,  under  Colonel  —  afterward  General  —  H.  L.  Abbot,  another  regular-army  officer,  went 
again  to  the  front,  at  Bermuda  Hundred.  There  Major  Trumbull  was  given  "the  post  of  honor," 
in  command  of  Battery  No.  3,  later  known  as  Fort  Anderson.  His  skill  and  efficiency  in  that 
position  were  recognized  l>y  his  commander,  and  in  June  he  was  sent  to  assume  command  of  bat- 
teries in  front  of  Petersburg.  For  some  time  after  this  he  was  "  in  charge  of  all  the  guns  of  the 
siege  on  both  sides  of  the  Appomattox."  "  He  showed  in  this  higher  sphere,"  says  Colonel  Abbot, 
"the  same  admirable  qualities  which  had  distinguished  him  when  in  command  of  Battery 
No.  3."  In  two  instances  Major  Trumbull  was  tendered  the  position  of  Chief  of  Artillery  on 
a  corps  commander's  staff ;  but  he  preferred  to  remain  with  his  regiment  while  he  could  have  so 
active  and  important  service  there.  He  was  promoted  to  be  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Nov.  29,  1864. 
When  a  return  of  his  illness  forbade  for  a  time  his  service  along  the.  extended  line  of  the 
Petersburg  front,  he  did  duty  on  the  staff  of  General  Benham,  in  completing  the  line  of 
defences  at  City  Point,  and  having  charge  of  the  reserve  artillery  there.  In  the  early  spring  of 
186;)  Lieutenant-Colonel  Trumbull  was  detailed  on  a  general  court-martial  at  Washington,  pre- 
sided over  by  General  H.  L.  Briggs,  where  his  legal  training  was  again  of  service.  It  was  while 
on  this  duty  that  he  finally  succumbed  to  disease,  and  died  March  30,  1865.  His  remains  were 
taken  to  his  Hartford  home,  and  as  they  were  borne  to  their  resting-place  in  Spring  Grove 
Cemetery,  on  the  afternoon  of  April  2,  his  friends  heard  the  shouts  of  rejoicing  over  the  fall 
of  Petersburg,  for  the  accomplishing  of  which  he  had  striven  so  bravely  and  untiringly. 
Possessed  of  a  vigorous  constitution,  young  Trumbull  was  early  distinguished  for  physical 
strength  and  athletic  accomplishments,  "  few  excelling  him  in  those  manly  sports  requiring 
cool  nerves,  trained  muscle,  and  a  quick  eye."  Of  brilliant  intellectual  powers,  and  of  rare 
geniality  in  spirit  and  manner,  he  was  exceptionally  winsome  and  popular,  and  withal  he  had 
a  keen  sense  of  honor,  a  lofty  purpose  of  noble  doing,  and  an  indomitable  will.  He  had  given 
promise  of  success  in  his  chosen  profession,  but  all  Ins  good  qualities  found  amplest  play  in 
the  duties  of  his  soldier  life.  Overtaxed  and  maimed  in  the  discharge  of  those  duties  in  his 
first  year  of  army  service,  he  kept  up  and  persevered  in  arduous  campaigning  for  wellnigh  four 
years  ;  and  he  lay  down  to  die  only  within  eleven  days  of  the  close  of  the  war  at  Appomattox 
Court-House.  While  he  was  yet  living,  Colonel  Abbot  wrote,  of  him,  in  his  official  report  for 
1864  :  "  Lieutenant-Colonel  Trumbull  has  highly  distinguished  himself  for  ability,  courage,  and 
devotion  to  duty.  Entering  upon  the  campaign  with  healtlvmuch  impaired,  ...  he  seemed 
to  throw  off  disease  by  determined  will.  .  .  .  His  only  fault  was  in  laboring  beyond  his 
strength.  Few  officers  have  the  energy  and  ability  to  accomplish  what  he  has  done."  With 
such  a  record,  a  life  (dosing  at  thirty  years  cannot  be  called  incomplete  ! 

1  Major  Henry  W.  Camp,  of  the  Tenth  Connecticut  Volunteers,  was  a  Hartford  high-school 
boy,  son  of  the  Rev.  Henry  B.  Camp.  He  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1860,  and  was  distin- 
guished for  manly  beauty,  physical  vigor,  and  intellectual  nobleness  and  strength  of  character. 
The  story  of  bis  brief  life  is  told  in  "  The  Knightly  Soldier,"  from  the  pen  of  his  intimate 
friend  and  companion  in  arms  and  in  prison,  Chaplain  Henry  Clay  Trumbull,  of  the  Tenth. 
Major  Camp  was  killed  Oct.  13,  1864,  near  Darhytown,  Virginia,  while  leading  a  charge  of  his 
regiment. 


THE    WAR   OF   THE    REBELLION. 


101 


Louisiana  ;  Captain  Newton  P.  Johnson  (Twenty-fifth)  of  East  Granby  ; 
Captain  Andrew  Upson  (Twentieth)  of  Southington ;  Sergeant  Albert 
Stillman  (Twentieth)  of  New  Britain ;  Sergeant  John  F.  Carroll 
(Twenty-fourth),  killed  at  Port  Hudson ;  Lieutenant  Owen  S.  Case 
(Thirtieth),  killed  at  Petersburg,  Virginia. 

The  total  expenditure  of  the  towns  of  the  State  for  .bounties,  pre- 
miums, support  of  families,  and  other  war-purposes  was  $5,195,877.80, 
of  whieh  the  towns  of  Hartford  County  paid  $1,217,966.19,  or  nearly 
one  quarter  of  the  entire  amount.  The  tables  published  below  are 
taken  from  the  "  History  of  Connecticut  during  the  Rebellion,"  but  the 
figures  are  not  in  every  instance  trustworthy. 


Expenditure  of 

Estimated  Amount 

Estimated 

Towns  for  Bounties, 

paid  by  Individuals 

Amount  paid 

Towns. 

Premiums,  Commu- 

for Bounties  to 

by  Individuals 

tation,  and  Support 

Volunteers 

for 

of  Families. 

and  Substitutes. 

Commutation. 

Hartford      .... 

$200,646. 86 



§35,403,478 

Avon 

15,094.17 

$1,975.66 

$1,800 

546,454 

Berlin 

35,880.66 

4,825.00 

1,078,882 

Bloomfield.     .     .     . 

39,235.00 

1,000.00 

833,529 

Bristol 

55,534.99 

13,551.98 

2,i66 

1,765,942 

Burlington  .... 

20,250.00 

2,000.00 

3,600 

456,487 

Canton 

36,644.63 

4,700.00 

3,500 

1,224,792 

East  Granby   .     .     . 

13,295.00 

1,800.00 

1,170 

495,888 

East  Hartford      .     . 

58,209.46 

24,800.00 

550 

1,464,822 

East  Windsor      .     . 

45,730.04 

3,000.00 

1,214,300 

Enfield 

00,314.00 

4,450.00 

2,669,099 

Fannington     .     .     . 

89,975.98 

9,000.00 

0,060 

2,162,570 

Glastonbury    .     .     . 

45,947.00 

5,950.00 

1,422,056 

Granby 

10,700.00 

3,316.00 

2,666 

609,726 

Hartland     .... 

12,492.25 

1,300.00 

2,100 

356,847 

Manchester      .     .     . 

47,212.70 

8,000.00 

1,632,047 

Marlborough  .     .     . 

6,674.00 

350.00 

305,482 

New  Britain    .     .     . 

45,628.45 

35,000.00 

14, 400 

2,608,418 

Rocky  Hill  .... 

20,605.00 

130.00 

7,000 

471,038 

Simsbury    .... 

14,575.00 

2,500.00 

3,600 

1,257,503 

Southington     .     .     . 

35,695.00 

12,250.00 

1,504,150 

South  Windsor    .     . 

25,800.00 

10,000.00 

1,211,873 

Suffield 

74,224.02 

1,720,255 

West  Hartford     .     . 

36,981.50 

1,388,857 

Wethersfield    .     .     . 

38,975.50 

5,401.00 

1,200 

1,726,711 

Windsor      .... 

34,700.00 

5,225.00 

1,421,333 

Windsor  Locks    .     . 

15,944.98 

2,630.00 

612,990 

$1,217,960.19 

$163,153.98 

$49,020 

$67,626,129 

Returns  from  present  town  officials  vary  slightly  from  these  figures 
in  many  instances,  but  they  are  probably  as  nearly  correct  as  it  is  pos- 
sible at  this  date  to  make  them,  owing  to  the  fact  that  frequently  the 
town  records  fail  to  specify  whether  certain  individual  appropriations 
were  in  aid  of  soldiers  or  their  families. 

The  following  additional  statistics  are  furnished  by  town  officials  : 

Berlin.  —  Appropriated  for  bounties,  822,307.17;  for  support  of  families  of 
volunteers,  $0,959.58,  —  total,  $29,966.57.  Furnished  171  men,  of  whom  12 
were  killed,  22  died  in  service.  In  Company  G,  Sixteenth,  were  27  Berlin  men, 
of  whom  2  were  killed  and  6  wounded  at  Antietam,  and  6  died  in  Rebel  prisons. 


102  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

More  than  30  soldiers  of  the  late  war  are  buried  in  the  town  cemeteries.  There 
are  two  soldiers'  monuments  in  the  town, — one  in  Kensington  and  one  in  East 
Berlin,  the  former  believed  to  be  the  first  erected  in  the  State  ;  it  bears  the 
names  of  hfteen  soldiers.  That  of  East  Berlin  has  thirty-five  names  of  soldiers, 
some  of  whom  belonged  in  adjoining  towns.  Private  E.  W.  Bacon  of  Berlin,  of  the 
Fourteenth  Regiment,  captured  the  colors  of  the  Sixteenth  North  Carolina  Regi- 
ment  at  Gettysburg.     He  was  afterward  killed  during  the  Wilderness  campaign. 

Bristol.  — Appropriated  $40,300  as  bounties  to  volunteers  and  drafted  men. 
There  were  also  large  expenditures  for  support  of  families.  Furnished  250  men, 
of  whom  it  is  believed  that  some  75  are  dead.  Among  the  most  conspicuous  of 
the  dead  was  Captain  Manross,  of  the  Sixteenth,  heretofore  mentioned.  The 
town  has  a  soldiers'  monument. 

Canton.  — Furnished  257  soldiers  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  Of  these, 
186  were  honorably  discharged  ;  41  were  either  killed  in  battle  or  died  from  the 
effects  of  wounds  or  disease  while  they  were  in  service ;  and  about  30  are  classed 
in  the  records  published  by  the  adjutant-general's  office  as  deserters,  but  most  of 
these  were  hired  substitutes  who  were  never  residents  of  the  town.  The  town 
voted  a  bounty  of  $100  to  each  man  who  counted  on  its  quota,  and  also  paid 
considerable  for  the  expense  of  enrolling,  and  the  records  show  that  the  sum 
of  $36,242  was  paid  towards  the  expense  of  furnishing  soldiers  for  the  war. 
There  has  been  no  appropriation  from  the  town  for  the  expense  of  a  soldiers' 
monument,  though  the  subject  has  sometimes  been  agitated. 

East  Hartford. — Expended  for  volunteers  and  substitutes  $70,733,  a  por- 
tion of  which  was  paid  by  individuals.  Furnished  311  men,  of  whom  211  were 
volunteers,  55  drafted  or  substitutes,  and  45  paid  commutation  money.  There 
were  killed,  14  ;  died  in  service,  18  ;  wounded,  10.1  The  town  has  a  fine  soldiers' 
monument  of  freestone,  surmounted  by  an  eagle.  It  was  erected  chiefly  by  sub- 
scription, and  bears  the  inscription  :  "  Erected  to  the  Memory  of  those  brave 
men  who  gave  up  their  lives  that  the  country  might  live."  The  town  annually 
votes  an  appropriation  to  assist  in  the  observance  of  Memorial  Day. 

Farmington.  — Paid  for  volunteers  and  substitutes,  $73,000  ;  to  families  of 
soldiers,  $26,475.98  ;  by  individuals  for  sanitary  commission,  soldiers'  relief,  etc., 
$7,635.97  :  total,  $107,111.95.  Furnished  360  men,  the  full  proportion  of  whom 
are  among  the  killed  and  wounded.     The  town  has  a  soldiers'  monument. 

Glastonbury.  —  War  expenses,  $50,035.94.  Number  of  men  furnished, 
393,  as  follows:  three  months'  volunteers,  10;  nine  months'  volunteers,  62; 
three  years' volunteers,  159;  re-enlisted  veterans,  28;  three  years'  recruits,  74; 
three  years'  substitutes,  46  ;  surgeons,  3  ;  lieutenant  regular  army,  1  ;  navy,  10. 
The  bounties  paid  by  the  town  ranged  from  $10  to  $500  per  man.  Appropria- 
tions were  also  made  for  the  mothers  and  infant  brothers  and  sisters  of  volunteers. 
There  were  killed  in  battle,  16  ;  died  in  service  (including  3  at  Andersonville), 
16.  The  town  furnished  1  lieutenant-colonel,  2  captains,  2  lieutenants,  3  sur- 
geons, 1  lieutenant  in  the  regular  army  (Robert  G.  Welles,  severely  wounded  at 
Gettysburg),  and  3  warrant  officers  in  the  navy. 

Marlborough.  —  Furnished  42  men,  of  whom  9  were  killed  or  died  in  the 
service.     The  amount  paid  for  volunteers  and  substitutes  was  about  $2,700. 

Manchester.  —  Sent  to  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  251  men  ;  namely,  volun- 
teers,  224;   substitutes   and   drafted,    27, — total,/ 251.     These  are  accounted 

1  The  most  distinguished  resident  of  the  town  who  served  during  the  war  was  Harry 
Howard  Brownell,  private  secretary  of  Admiral  Farragut,  who  was  called  by  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  "  the  battle  laureate  of  the  Union."  He  was  the  author  of  "  War  Lyrics,"  and  wrote 
an  account  of  the  "  Battle  of  Mobile  Bay  "  in  verse,  which  is  the  most  graphic  and  accurate 
description  of  the  fight  ever  written.  During  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  in  passing  the  forts, 
he  sat.  on  the  quarter-deck  making  notes  of  every  incident,  the  notes  being  written  as  carefully 
as  though  he  had  been  a  hundred  miles  away  from  any  danger.  He  died  in  1875,  and  is 
buried  in  the  Centre  Cemeterv. 


THE    WAR  OF   THE   REBELLION.  103 

for  as  follows :  missing  in  action,  1 ;  enlisted  in  C.  8.  A.,  while  prisoner  of  war, 
1  ;  not  taken  up  on  rolls,  3  ;  killed  in  action,  6  ;  died  in  service,  of  disease  and 
wounds,  32;  deserted,  33; 1  honorably  discharged,  175,  —  total,  251.  As  the 
total  population  of  Manchester  in  1860  was  hut  3,294,  making  by  the  ordinary 
estimate  G58  voters,  the  town  must  have  sent  nearly,  if  not  quite,  one  half  of  the 
number  of  those  fit  for  military  service.  The  251  Manchester  men  were  scat- 
tered into  many  widely  separated  commands,  being  distributed  according  to  their 
enlistments  as  follows  :  First  Regiment  Connecticut  Volunteers  (three  months'),  8 ; 
Second  Regiment  Connecticut  Volunteers,  1  ;  First  Squadron  Cavalry,  4  ;  First 
Regiment  Cavalry,  5  ;  First  Light  Battery,  4  ;  Second  Light  Battery,  1  ;  First 
Connecticut  Artillery,  40;  Second  Connecticut  Artillery,  8;  Infantry, — Fifth 
Volunteers,  15;  Seventh  Volunteers,  11;  Eighth  Volunteers,  5;  Ninth  Volun- 
teers, 4;  Tenth  Volunteers,  38;  Eleventh  Volunteers,  7;  Twelfth  Volunteers,  10; 
Fourteenth  Volunteers,  9  ;  Fifteenth  Volunteers,  3  ;  Sixteenth  Volunteers,  44  ; 
Twentieth  Volunteers,  8 ;  Twenty-First  Volunteers,  1  ;  Twenty-second  Volun- 
teers, 7  ;  Twenty-fifth  Volunteers,  4  ;  Twenty-ninth  Volunteers,  7  ;  Third  Bri- 
gade Band,  2 ;  First  United  States  Artillery,  1  ;  Wisconsin  Volunteers,  1  ; 
United  States  Navy,  3, — total,  251.  John  L.  Otis,  Second  Lieutenant  Com- 
pany B,  Tenth  Connecticut  Volunteers,  was  promoted  to  the  colonelcy  of  his  regi- 
ment, and  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  made  brigadier-general  by  brevet  "  for 
gallantry  at  the  crossing  of  James  River,  Va.,  June  20,  1864,  and  at  the  battle 
of  Flusser's  Mills  and  Deep  River,  Va.  ;  to  date  from  March  13,  1865."  The 
first  five  volunteers  from  Manchester  enlisted  April  20,  1861,  in  Captain  Com- 
stock's  Company  (A,  First  Regiment  Connecticut  Volunteers,  three  months'). 
Their  names  were  Philip  W.  Hudson  (afterward  captain  Company  B,  Tenth 
Connecticut  Volunteers),  George  C.  Chad  wick,  John  B.  Warburton,  William 
Annis,  and  Charles  Avery.  Manchester  has  a  tasteful  soldiers'  monument,  cost- 
ing with  its  surroundings  $3,029.03,  of  which  the  town  paid  $2,636.34,  and 
Drake  Post  No.  4,  G.  A.  R.,  $392.69.  This  was  selected  and  purchased  by 
Robert  H.  Kellogg,  Frank  W.  Cheney,  and  Horace  White  (a  committee  appointed 
by  the  town),  and  dedicated  Sept.  17,  1877.  Manchester  has  a  flourishing  Post 
of  the  G.  A.  R.  (Drake  No.  4),  named  after  Colonel  Albert  W.  Drake,  of  the 
Tenth  Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  organized  July  9,  1875. 

Rocky  Hill.  —  Seventy-three  men  were  credited  to  this  town,  receiving 
from  $100  to  $300  bounty  each,  the  total  town  bounty  amounting  to  $12,000. 
In  addition  to  this  amount,  volunteers  under  the  first  and  second  calls  received 
from  General  James  T.  Pratt,  then  a  resident  of  the  town,  the  sum  of  $10  each. 
More  than  one  household  gave  all  its  young  men,  many  of  whom  never  returned. 
Representatives  of  Rocky  Hill  families  enlisted  in  other  States  to  a  considerable 
extent. 

Southington.  — Gave  311  men  to  the  army  and  1  man  to  the  navy.  Of 
this  number  50  died  in  service.  $35,695  was  expended  by  the  town  for  boun- 
ties, the  support  of  soldiers'  families,  etc. ;  and  it  is  estimated  that  in  addition  to 
this  amount  the  sum  of  $12,250  was  paid  by  individuals  in  aid  to  volunteers 
and  for  substitutes. 

Wethersfield.  —  On  July  21,  1862,  the  town  voted  $50  bounty  to  every 
resident  enlisting  under  the  call  for  300,000  men.  The  amount  was  increased, 
August  18,  to  $125,  with  an  additional  $25  if  the  town's  quota  should  be  raised 
without  a  draft.  On  July  20,  1863,  the  sum  of  $300  was  voted  to  each  drafted 
man,  thus  paying  them  double  what  the  volunteers  received.  On  Aug.  22,  1863, 
the  treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow  $14,400  to  meet  the  expense.  The  quota 
under  this  draft  was  48.  In  December,  1863,  the  town  was  called  on  for  33 
more  men,  and  $4,200  more  was  appropriated.     On  July  28,  1864,  $6,000  was 

1  The  deserters  were  largely  from  the  "  bounty -jumping "  class,  eighteen  out  of  the 
twenty-seven  substitutes  being  recorded  as  such. 


104  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

appropriated  to  meet  the  demands  under  the  call  for  500,000  men.  On  Nov.  28, 
1864,  the  selectmen  reported  that  they  had  procured  46  volunteers  and  substi- 
tutes at  an  expense  of  $9,681.66,  and  the  town  voted  $10,000  to  defray  the  cost. 
The  town  has  no  soldiers'  monument. 

Windsor.  —  The  town  furnished  2  three  months'  men,  71  nine  months'  men, 
and  184  three  years'  men,  or  the  equivalent  of  202  three  years'  men.  Of  this 
number  5  were  killed  or  died  of  wounds  received  in  action,  1  was  missing  in 
action,  7  were  wounded,  10  died  in  service,  8  were  discharged  for  disability, 
4  were  promoted  to  commissions,  4  deserted  after  muster  and  13  as  recruits  be- 
fore muster,  the  latter  belonging  to  the  infamous  army  of  bounty-jumpers.  There 
are  35  soldiers'  graves  in  the  town.  E.  !N.  Phelps,  of  Windsor,  was  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  Twenty-second  Regiment.  Windsor  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
had  a  large  anti-war  party,  but  the  Union  sentiment  prevailed.  To  the  Women's 
Soldiers'  Aid  Society  great  credit  was  due  for  stimulating  patriotism  at  home  and 
sending  supplies  into  the  field.  Among  the  prominent  Union  men  of  the  town 
was  the  late  Brevet  Brigadier-General  William  S.  Pierson. 


^&t^_, 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  BENCH  AND   THE  BAR. 

BY    SHERMAN    W.    ADAMS. 
General  View. — The  Courts.  —  Judges  and  Lawyers. 

FOR  the  trial  of  causes,  civil  and  criminal,  courts  are  almost  as  old 
as  governments.  And  the  Bench,  a  term  which  is  significant  of 
the  magistrate  or  judicial  officer  who  occupies  it,  must,  of  course, 
be  as  ancient  as  the  court.  This  is  not  so,  however,  with  the  Bar.  For 
there  have  been  periods  when  there  were  suitors  at  law  without  attor- 
neys, and  culprits  without  counsel ;  in  other  words,  when  there  was  no 
Bar,  in  the  figurative  sense  of  the  word  as  here  used.  But  neither 
those  who  sat  upon  the  Bench  nor  those  who  practised  at  its  Bar  have 
always  been  trained  to  the  legal  profession.  Hence,  we  must  notice 
persons  who  were  not  lawyers,  nor  bred  to  the  law,  but  who  fall  within 
the  class  indicated  by  the  title  which  heads  this  article. 

The  members  of  the  first  court  which  existed  in  this  colony,  estab- 
lished in  March,  1635-1636,  were  eight  in  number  ;  namely,  Roger 
Ludlow,  William  Pynchon,  John  Steele,  William  Swayne,  Henry  Smith, 
William  Phelps,  William  Westwood,  and  Andrew  Ward.  Of  these, 
only  five  participated  in  the  first  recorded  session  of  the  court,  that 
of  April  26,  1636,  at  Hartford.  These  gentlemen  had  been  com- 
missioned by  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  "  to  govern  the 
people  at  Connecticut  for  the  space  of  a  year  next  coming."  They 
were  in  effect  invested  with  exclusive  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive 
power ;  including  "  military  discipline,  defensive  war,"  and  "  to  make 
and  decree  such  orders,  for  the  present,  that  may  be  for  the  peaceable 
and  quiet  ordering  the  affairs  of  the  said  plantation,"  etc.  They  ruled 
the  plantations  during  their  term  of  office ;  and  when,  in  the  following- 
year,  the  plantations  became  townships,  the  latter  chose  the  "  commit- 
tees" which  represented  the  towns  in  the  General  Court,  and  formed 
the  lower  section  of  that  body.     The  court  was  aided  by  a  jury. 

Prior  to  January,  1639,  when  the  fundamental  articles  of  govern- 
ment of  the  colony  were  formed,  Thomas  Welles,  John  Haynes,  John 
Plumb,  Matthew  Mitchell,  and  Samuel  Smith  had  been  added  to  the 
list  of  members  of  the  upper  section,  called  magistrates,  which  had 
powers  over  life,  liberty,  and  property,  such  as  no  body  of  officers  since 
their  day  has  been  intrusted  with.  And  of  all  these  men  who  exercised 
the  double  function  of  makers  and  expounders  of  the  law,  it  is  not  cer- 
tain that  one  had  been  trained  to  the  legal  profession,  though  probably 
Ludlow  had  been.     He  it  was,  who,  in  1646-1650,  prepared  that  body 


106  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

of  laws  known  as  the  Code  of  1650,  which  was  distributed  in  manu- 
script to  the  several  towns,  and  remained,  until  1673,  the  only  book  of 
laws  of  the  colon}'. 

In  1638  an  inferior  court,  without  legislative  power,  was  consti- 
tuted, the  members  whereof  consisted  of  a  majority  of  the  magistrates 
of  the  General  Court.  It  was  known  as  the  Particular  Court.  From 
1639  until  the  union  of  Hartford  and  New  Haven  colonies,  under  the 
Charter,  in  1665,  the  General  Court  consisted  of  two  branches.  They 
occupied  the  same  chamber,  and  were  presided  over  by  the  governor  or 
the  deputy-governor.  The  upper  branch  was  composed  of  magistrates 
elected  by  the  "freemen"  at  large,  and  the  lower  branch  consisted  of 
deputies  sent  by  the  several  towns.  The  General  Court  exercised  gen- 
eral legislative  and  judicial  powers.  In  the  Particular  Court  the  juris- 
diction was  over  misdemeanors,  small  civil  onuses,  and  the  probate  of 
wills. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  at  this  time  there  were  any  members  of  the 
Bar,  as  we  now  understand  the  term.  The  occupants  of  the  Bench 
were  not  learned  in  the  law,  and  justice  was  administered  in  a 
crude,  though  effectual  way,  often  adopting  the  principles  of  the  Mosaic 
code.  Many  were  convicted  and  punished  under  evidence  which  would 
not  now  be  admitted  in  any  court ;  and  it  is  probable  that  in  the  name 
of  justice  much  injustice  was  done.  The  meagre  abstracts  of  trials  of 
criminal  causes  in  those  days  are  curious  and  interesting. 

In  May,  1671,  Governor  Winthrop  and  Deputy-Governor  Leete,  with 
the  Assistants,  were  directed  to  procure  a  revision  of  the  laws.  This, 
the  first  printed  edition  of  our  statutes,  was  completed  in  1672,  and 
published  at  Cambridge  in  1673. 

During  the  Andros  usurpation,  1687-1689,  the  great  legal  question  of 
the  right  of  Great  Britain  to  take  away  our  charter  was  uppermost  in 
importance  and  attention.  It  was  freely  and  hotly  discussed,  and  by  none 
more  so  than  by  the  Rev.  Gershom  Bulkeley,  of  Wethersfield.  This  gen- 
tleman had  exchanged  the  pulpit  for  the  forum,  where  he  became  one  of 
the  leading  advocates  of  his  day.  He  espoused  the  Tory  side  of  the  main 
question,  and  was  probably  the  most  ardent  supporter  of  Andros  in  the 
colony.  Bulkeley  had  lost  his  voice  before  he  left  the  pulpit ;  but  he 
was  a  skilful  legal  draughtsman  and  special  pleader.  He  was  not, 
however,  engaged  exclusively  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  for  he  had,  at 
the  same  time,  a  large  medical  practice. 

In  January,  1698,  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  was  provided  for 
by  law.  In  1699  the  General  Assembly  became,  for  the  first  time, 
divided  into  an  upper  and  a  lower  house,  each  having  its  own  presiding 
officer.  Thereafter  legislation  became  more  methodical,  and  the  legis- 
lature more  strictly  a  law-making  body. 

In  1696  Secretary  Eleazer  Kimberly,  of  Glastonbury,  and  Colonel 
John  Allyn,  of  Hartford,  and  Major  James  Fitch,  of  Plainfield  (then  in 
Hartford  County),  Assistants,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  revise  the 
laws  of  the  colony.  They  completed  their  work  in  1700,  and  printed  it 
in  Boston  in  1702. 

At  this  time  the  field  of  legislation  was  broadening.  It  included 
the  laying  out  of  plantations,  townships,  parishes,  military  and  school 
"  precincts,"  highways  and  admiralty  matters,  the  inspection  of  provi- 
sions and  manufactured  goods,  educational  and  ecclesiastical  matters, 


THE   BENCH   AND   THE   BAR.  107 

and  sumptuary  laws.  Military  affairs  and  special  matters,  as  divorces, 
engaged  much  of  the  attention  of  the  General  Assembly. 

In  1709  the  practice  of  printing  the  session-laws  annually  was  be- 
gun. The  edition  of  1715,  including  session-laws  to  that  date,  was 
prepared  by  William  Pitkin,  Joseph  Talcott,  and  Roger  Wolcott,  Sr. 

The  law  empowering  the  parishes  (or  societies)  to  regulate  the 
ministry  and  "  the  school,"  within  their  respective  limits,  was  enacted 
in  1717.  In  1726  grand-jurors  were  recognized  as  informing  officers, 
even  when  acting  singly.  In  1750  a  revision  of  the  Statutes  of  Con- 
necticut was  published ;  it  had  been  begun  in  1742.  An  "  Act  for 
securing  the  general  Privileges  of  the  Inhabitants"  —  being  the  initial 
statute  in  the  edition  of  1715 — was  changed  in  its  title  by  substituting 
"  His  Majesty's  subjects  in  this  colony  "  in  place  of  "  the  inhabitants." 
The  statute  was  enlarged  in  its  scope,  and  it  reads  much  like  parts 
of  Magna  Charta.  Much  of  the  legislation  included  in  the  edition  of 
1750  relates  to  matters  ecclesiastical.  "  The  people  called  Baptists," 
for  instance,  are  given  the  "same  privilege"  as  the  "  Sober  Dissenters 
commonly  called  Quakers."  Imposts,  marine  and  admiralty  matters, 
are  largely  the  subject  of  statutory  provisions.  But  there  is  nothing- 
indicating  the  right  of  any  private  corporation  to  exist  in  Connecticut ; 
and  indeed  the  General  Assembly  had  declared,  in  1733,  that  — 

"Inasmuch  as  all  companies  of  merchants  are  made  at  home,  by  letters- 
patent  from  the  King,  and  we  know  not  of  one  single  instance  of  any  govern- 
ment in  the  plantations  doing  such  a  thing,  it  is,  at  least,  very  doubtful  whether 
we  have  authority  to  make  such  a  society ;  and  hazardous,  therefore,  for  this 
government  to  presume  upon  it." 

A  sixth  county,  Litchfield,  was  formed  in  1751,  by  subdivision  of 
Hartford  County.  Windham  County  had  been  formed  in  the  same  way 
in  1726.  Important  legislation  was  that  of  1766,  which  authorized  the 
formation  of  school-districts  within  towmships  and  parishes  (societies) ; 
whereas  theretofore  the  care  and  control  of  schools  had  been  vested  in 
the  towns,  and,  in  special  cases,  in  the  parishes. 

In  June,  1776,  the  statutes  purported  to  be  passed  by  the  "  General 
Court  or  Assembly  of  the  English  Colony  of  Connecticut  in  New  Eng- 
land." In  October  of  the  same  year  they  were  said  to  be  by  the  "  State 
of  Connecticut,  in  New  England."  But  the  charter  of  Charles  II. 
was  declared  to  remain  in  full  force  so  far  as  the  same  was  consistent 
with  the  absolute  independence  of  this  State,  etc. 

The  subjects  of  first  importance  in  the  General  Assembly  during 
the  Revolutionary  period  were,  naturally,  embargoes,  the  militia,  bills 
of  credit,  imposts,  etc.  But  as  early  as  1739  the  colony  had,  for  the 
first  time,  authorized  the  formation  of  regimental  organizations,  and 
had  constituted  thirteen  regiments  of  militia. 

A  new  revision  of  the  statutes  appeared  in  1784.  They  began  with 
an  ample  Bill  of  Rights  of  the  people,  quite  in  accordance  with  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  The  status  of  courts  and  attorneys  will 
appear  in  other  parts  of  this  article.  Societies  were  still  quasi  municipal 
corporations,  having  distinctly  defined  territorial  limits. 

A  revision  of  the  laws  appeared  in  1795.  It  contains  a  declaration 
by  Matthew  Griswold,  president,  that  the  National  Constitution  had 
been  ratified  by  the  Connecticut  Convention,  Jan.  9, 1788,  by  the  affirm- 


108  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

ative  votes  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  delegates,  against  forty 
negative  votes. 

Another  edition  of  the  statutes  was  prepared  in  1808,  the  most 
complete  we  have  ever  had,  —  thanks  to  the  labors  of  Mr.  Day,  the 
most  competent  man  in  the  State  for  such  work.  Many  acts  of  a  pri- 
vate nature  were  contained  in  this  edition,  for  in  those  days  there  was 
no  separate  publication  of  special  enactments.  But,  excepting  seven 
banks,  five  insurance  companies,  five  aqueduct  companies,  two  fishing 
companies,  two  literary  societies,  and  a  few  turnpike  companies,  there 
were  no  private  corporations,  nor  any  general  laws  authorizing  the  for- 
mation of  such.  And  under  the  National  Constitution  tbe  State  had 
parted  with  its  right  to  legislate  on  the  subjects  of  coinage  and  cur- 
rency, foreign  duties,  imposts,  naval  and  marine  matters  on  public 
waters,  and  post-offices ;  so  that  the  body  of  laws  was  quite  different 
in  many  departments  from  that  of  earlier  editions. 

In  1789  was  published  the  first  printed  collection  of  reports  of 
cases  adjudicated  in  our  courts  of  last  resort,  or,  indeed,  in  the 
United  States.  They  were  compiled  by  Ephraim  Kirby,  and  published 
at  Litchfield,  and  comprised  cases  decided  in  the  years  1785-1788. 
Judge  Jesse  Root  continued  the  series,  beginning  in  1789  and  ending 
in  1797.  He  included  some  cases  decided  much  earlier;  one  as  early 
as  1764.  The  publication  of  these  cases  was  not  resumed  until  1806, 
when  Thomas  Day  began  a  series  of  Reports,  running  back  to  1802 ; 
leaving  a  space  of  four  years,  for  which  the  decisions  were,  and  re- 
main, unreported.  Since  Mr.  Day  began,  the  Reports  have  been  con- 
tinued to  the  present  time. 

The  Constitution  of  1818  effected,  practically,  a  divorce  of  Church 
from  State  interests.  In  the  mean  time  slavery  was  becoming  extinct, 
through  the  operations  of  enactments  begun  in  1784.  A  revision  of  the 
laws,  made  necessary  by  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution,  appeared  in 
1821.  In  1828  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  required  that  State 
senators  be  thereafter  elected  by  districts,  instead  of  at  large,  as  had 
been  the  mode  of  election.  In  1837  the  same  change  was  begun  as  to 
the  mode  of  election  of  representatives  to  Congress.  United  States 
senators,  of  course,  were  first  elected  in  1789. 

Revisions,  or  compilations  of  the  statutes,  have  followed,  in  the 
years  1824,  1835,  1838,  1849,  1854,  1866,  and  1875.  In  1837  appeared 
the  first  compilation  of  Private  Laws  of  the  State ;  but  it  included  no 
enactments  passed  prior  to  1789.  The  next  compilation  was  published 
in  1857,  since  which  time  several  others  have  been  made,  always  includ- 
ing those  acts  only,  passed  since  the  next  preceding  edition. 

In  the  same  year,  1837,  was  begun  the  practice  of  publishing  in  a 
separate  pamphlet,  annually,  the  private  acts  and  resolves  of  each  year 
or  session.  In  1837,  also,  was  begun  the  annual  publication  of  the 
Journal  of  the  House,  and  in  1840,  that  of  tlie  Senate. 

The  statute  authorizing  and  regulating  the  formation  of  joint-stock 
companies  was  passed  in  1837.  Since  that  date  private  corporations 
have  become  almost  innumerable,  and  they  have  been  one  of  the  chief 
sources  of  litigation  and  causes  of  legislation. 

The  publication  of  the  Records  of  Connecticut  Colony  was  begun  in 
1850  by  the  Hon.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  and  they  were  continued  by 
him  until  they  included  the  Records  down  to  1689.     From  that  date 


THE   BENCH   AND   THE   BAR.  109 

to  1772  they  have  been  published  in  volumes  prepared  by  Charles  J. 
Hoadly,  Esq. 

The  publication  of  the  various  legislative  documents  of  the  State  has 
been  continued  from  different  dates,  which  it  is  difficult  to  establish. 
The  number  of  these  documents,  of  which  no  catalogue  has  ever  been 
made,  is  increasing  annually,  owing  to  the  formation  of  new  depart- 
ments from  time  to  time. 

Courts.  —  The  Particular  Court,  the  highest  strictly  judicial  body  in 
the  colony,  existed  from  1638  until  1665, — twenty-six  years.  Excepting 
one  session  each  (?)  at  New  London  and  Wethersfield,  it  was  holden  at 
Hartford  only.  Of  the  thirty-five  men  who  at  one  period  or  another  oc- 
cupied its  bench,  twelve  were  from  Hartford,  seven  from  Windsor,  and 
three  from  Wethersfield.  It  was  presided  over  by  the  governor,  or  his 
deputy  for  the  time  being,  and  with  him  were  associated  two  or  three  of 
the  magistrates,  or  members  of  the  upper  section  of  the  General  Court. 
Thus  it  happened  that  six  governors  —  Haynes,  Webster,  Hopkins,  and 
Wyllys,  of  Hartford ;  Welles,  of  Wethersfield  ;  and  Winthrop,  of  New 
London  and  Hartford  —  were  its  presiding  officers.  Majors  William 
Whiting  and  John  Talcott,  Jr.,  of  Hartford,  and  John  Mason,  at  first  of 
Windsor,  occupied  its  bench  ;  as  did  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Allyn, 
of  Hartford,  Roger  Ludlow,  Secretary  Daniel  Clarke,  and  Henry  Wol- 
cott,  all  of  Windsor.  William  Phelps,  of  Windsor,  sat  with  the  court 
much  of  the  time,  as  did  Secretary  John  Cullick  and  Samuel  Wyllys, 
of  Hartford. 

At  the  last  session  of  the  General  Court  prior  to  the  union,  the 
number  of  magistrates  present  (April  20,  1665)  was  six ;  the  number 
of  deputies  was  twenty-five.  Under  the  Charter  the  General  Court 
became  the  General  Assembly.  The  members  of  the  upper  branch, 
called  Assistants,  were  twelve  in  number,  and  elected  at  large.  The 
lower  branch  was  composed  of  deputies,  who  sat  with  the  assist- 
ants ;  the  whole  being  presided  over  by  the  governor  or  the  deputy- 
governor. 

In  1665  the  Court  of  Assistants  was  established  ;  the  members 
whereof  were  at  least  seven  in  number,  and  were  chosen  from  the 
Assistants  in  the  General  Court.  The  Court  of  Assistants  existed  until 
1711,  when  it  was  succeeded  by  the  Superior  Court  of  the  Colony.  Most 
of  its  sessions  were  holden  at  Hartford ;  a  few  at  New  Haven  and  New 
London.  Its  jurisdiction  extended  to  matters  of  a  higher  nature  than 
those  tried  in  the  Particular  Court,  to  which  it  was  the  successor.  Fifty 
persons,  usually  from  seven  to  ten  at  a  time,  became  acting  members 
of  this  court.  Of  these,  eleven  were  from  Hartford,  five  from  Windsor, 
four  each  from  Wethersfield  and  Farmington,  one  from  Middletown, 
and  the  rest  from  New  Haven,  New  London,  and  Fairfield  counties. 
Prominent  members  were :  Matthew  Allyn,  Colonel  John  Allyn,  Sam- 
uel Wyllys,  Major  John  Talcott,  Jr.,  James  Richards  (Commissioner 
of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England),  Nathaniel  Stanley,  Sr.,  Cap- 
tain Caleb  Stanley,  Sr.,  Treasurer  WTilliam  Pitkin,  Sr.,  and  William 
Pitkin,  Jr.,  all  of  Hartford ;  Secretary  Daniel  Clarke  and  Henry  Wol- 
cott,  Jr.,  of  Windsor ;  Major  John  Chester,  Sr.,  and  Captain  Samuel 
Talcott,  of  Wethersfield  ;  John  Wadsworth,  of  Farmington  ;  John  Ham- 
lin, of  Middletown.     Others,  equally  prominent,  but  holding  shorter 


110  MEMORIAL   HISTORY    OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

terms,  were  Governor  Thomas  Welles  and  Richard  Treat,  Sr.,  of  Weth- 
ersfield  ;  Governor  Joseph  Talcott,  of  Hartford  ;  Major  Benjamin  New- 
berry, Sr.,  of  Windsor  ;  Governor  Robert  Treat,  of  Wethersfield  and 
Milford. 

In  1666,  counties,  for  the  first  time,  were  organized.  They  were 
Hartford,  New  Haven,  New  London,  and  Fairfield ;  Hartford  County 
at  this  time  including  about  one  half  of  the  area  of  the  colony.  Then, 
also,  the  several  County  Courts  were  established.  The  County  Courts, 
from  1666  to  1698,  consisted  of  one  assistant,  or,  as  we  would  now  say, 
senator,  and  three  or  four  commissioners ;  the  latter  corresponding  to 
the  justices  of  the  peace  of  to-day.  From  1698  to  1821  the  incum- 
bents were  one  judge,  and  from  two  to  five  "  Justices  of  the  Peace 
and  Quorum;"  all  specially  commissioned  by  the  General  Assembly. 
Ordinarily  the  Bench  consisted  of  five  members;  and  the  court,  which 
had  both  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction,  was  as  important  as  is  the 
present  Superior  Court.  Nearly  all  those  whom  we  have  mentioned  as 
members  of  the  Court  of  Assistants  sat  in  the  County  Court.  The  num- 
ber of  judges  of  this  court,  for  Hartford  County,  including  assistants 
and  justices  of  the  quorum,  prior  to  1821,  was  eighty-six  ;  too  many  to 
be  named  here.  About  twenty-five  of  these  were  chief  judges.  The 
very  foremost  citizens,  lawyers  and  laymen,  occupied  this  Bench. 
Among  them,  not  heretofore  mentioned,  were :  Major  John  Chester, 
Jr.,  of  Wethersfield;  Colonel  Matthew  Allyn,  of  Windsor;  Henry 
Wolcott,  Jr.,  Governor  Roger  Wolcott,  and  Roger  Wolcott,  Jr.  ;  Gov- 
ernor William  Pitkin,  3d,  of  Hartford;  Colonels  David  Goodrich  and 
John  Chester,  3d,  of  Wethersfield ;  Colonel  Thomas  Welles,  of  Glas- 
tonbury ;  Colonel  Jabez  Hamlin,  of  Middletown  (forty  years  on  the 
bench)  ;  General  Erastus  Wolcott,  of  East  Windsor ;  Colonel  John 
Chester,  4th,  of  Wethersfield ;  General  Roger  Newberry,  of  Windsor ; 
Governor  John  Treadwell  and  Colonel  John  Mix,  of  Farmington ; 
Colonel  Thomas  Seymour,  -1th,  of  Hartford  ;  General  Dyer  Throop,  of 
East  Haddam  ;  Stephen  Mix  Mitchell,  United  States  Senator  and  Chief 
Justice  of  the  State,  Wethersfield ;  Jonathan  Brace,  of  Glastonbury 
and  Hartford.  Governor  Joseph  Talcott,  of  Hartford,  born  in  1669, 
was  so  much  of  the  time  chief  judge  of  the  County  Court  and  judge  of 
the  Probate  Court  for  Hartford  County,  that  his  name  should  be 
specially  mentioned.  Major  John  Chester,  of  Wethersfield,  who  in 
1711  took  Pitkin's  place  as  judge  of  the  County  and  Probate  Court, 
died  the  same  year,  and  so  the  Bench  was  early  deprived  of  one  of  its 
brightest  luminaries.  Most  of  the  judicial  officers,  from  this  time  down 
to  a  date  subsequent  to  the  Revolution,  were  military  officers  also ;  and 
the  clerks  of  courts  usually  prefixed  their  military  rather  than  their 
civil  titles  in  the  public  records. 

From  1821  to  1839,  the  County  Court  consisted  of  three  judges,  two 
forming  a  quorum.  Justices  of  the  Peace  and J^uorum  no  longer  existed 
after  1821.  From  1839  to  1856,  when  this  court  was  abolished,  the 
triers  were  one  judge  and  two  or  three  county  commissioners.  During 
this  last  period  of  about  seventeen  years  the  court  had  ceased  to  have 
anything  like  the  importance  which  it  formerly  possessed. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  office  of  judge,  eo  nomine,  was  unknown 
in  the  colony  prior  to  1698.  The  first  legally  to  hold  this  title  was 
Nathaniel  Stanley,  Sr.,  of  Hartford,  Judge  of  the  County  Court. 


THE   BENCH   AND   THE   BAR.  113 

In  1711  the  Court  of  Assistants  was  abolished,  and  in  its  place  was 
established  the  Superior  court  of  the  colony.  It  was  a  circuit  court, 
having  one  chief  judge  and  four  associate  judges  ;  its  sessions  being 
two  in  each  county  annually  ;  its  jurisdiction,  like  that  of  the  County 
Courts,  extending  to  both  civil  and  criminal  causes.  Governor  Gurdon 
Saltonstall  was  its  first  chief  judge:  his  bench-fellows  being  William 
Pitkin  (son  of  William,  hereinbefore  mentioned) ;  Richard  Christo- 
phers, of  New  London  ;  Peter  Burr,  of  Fairfield  ;  and  Samuel  Eells,  of 
Milford,  all  members  of  the  upper  branch  of  the  General  Assembly. 
Pitkin  became  chief  judge  in  1713.  His  son,  Governor  William,  be- 
came chief  judge  in  1754  ;  his  son,  General  William,  became  judge  in 
1789 ;  and  thus  four  successive  generations  of  William  Pitkins  filled 
most  important  judicial  positions  in  the  colony. 

A  "Superior"  Court  has  existed  from  1711  until  the  present  day. 
It  was  colonial  until  1776,  and  a  State  court  from  the  latter  date  to 
1798.  Since  then  it  has  been  a  county  court.  Chief  judges  were  pro- 
vided until  1855  ;  and  its  bench,  until  1819,  was  occupied  by  from  three 
to  five  judges  at  a  time ;  three  being  a  quorum.  Since  1819  one  judge 
only  has  regularly  occupied  it.  Before  1819  fifty-eight  judges  had  filled 
the  judicial  office.  Of  these,  nineteen  were  chief  judges  of  the  Superior 
Court  and  seventeen  were  ex-officio  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  that 
is,  from  1807  to  1819.  Seventeen  judges  were  from  Hartford  County, 
of  whom  three  —  namely,  Stephen  Mix  Mitchell,  of  Wethersfield  ;  John 
Trumbull,  of  Hartford  ;  and  John  Thompson  Peters,  of  Hebron  and 
Hartford  —  were  Supreme  Court  judges  prior  to  1819.  Of  the  nine- 
teen chief  judges  of  the  Superior  Court,  four  — namely,  Judge  Mitchell, 
William  Pitkin,  Jr.,  of  Hartford  ;  Governor  Roger  Wolcott,  Sr.,  of 
Windsor  ;  and  Governor  William  Pitkin,  3d,  of  Hartford  — ■  were  from 
Hartford  County. 

Since  it  became  a  single-judge  court  (June,  1819)  thirty-eight  per- 
sons have  been  judges  of  the  Superior  Court.  From  1807  its  judges 
were,  when  sitting  in  banc,  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Since 
1855  the  two  classes  of  judges  have  been  entirely  distinct.  Five  of  the 
thirty-eight  judges  since  1819  came  from  Hartford  County  ;  namely  : 
John  Thompson  Peters,  mentioned  above  ;  Thomas  Scott  Williams,  of 
Wethersfield  and  Hartford ;  Governor  William  Wolcott  Ellsworth,  of 
Windsor  and  Hartford;  Thomas  Belden  Butler,  of  Wethersfield  and 
Norwalk ;  Dwight  W.  Pardee,  of  Bristol  and  Hartford.  All  these 
were  promoted  to  the  Bench  of  the  Supreme  Court.  So  also  was 
Elisha  Carpenter,  a  native  of  Ashford,  but  now  of  Hartford.  We 
may  also  include  Chief  Justice  William  Lucius  Storrs,  who,  coming 
from  Middletown  .about  1840,  resided  thereafter  in  Hartford. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  Errors  wTas  constituted  in  1784.  From  that 
date  to  1806  its  members  were  the  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor  (after 
1793),  and  the  Assistants  of  the  General  Assembly,  then  twelve  in 
number.  Seven  (eight  after  1793)  formed  a  quorum.  The  court  took 
cognizance  of  such  cases  as  had  theretofore  gone  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly by  writ  of  error.  The  Governor  or  Lieutenant-Governor  presided, 
and  the  Secretary  of  State  was  the  clerk.  Two  sessions  were  held  an- 
nually, one  each  at  Hartford  and  New  Haven  respectively.  The  sessions 
were  holden  in  the  week  next  preceding  the  opening  of  the  General 
Assembly. 

VOL.   I.  —  8. 


114  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

There  were  thirty-nine  of  this  class  of  ex-officio  judges  in  this  period 
of  twenty-two  years.  Of  these,  eleven  were  from  Hartford  County. 
They  were  General  William  Pitkin,  4th,  East  Hartford  ;  Governor  Oliver 
Wolcott,  Sr.,  East  Windsor  and  Litchfield  ;  Governor  Oliver  Ellsworth, 
Sr.,  Windsor  ;  General  Erastus  Wolcott,  East  Windsor  ;  Governor  John 
Treadwell,  Farmington  ;  Colonel  John  Chester,  4th,  Wethersfield ; 
General  Roger  Newberry,  Windsor;  Colonel  Thomas  Seymour,  4th, 
Hartford ;  Colonel  Jeremiah  Wadsworth,  Hartford ;  Jonathan  Brace, 
Glastonbury  and  Hartford ;  Lieutenant-Governor  Chauncey  Goodrich, 
Durham  and  Hartford. 

Governor  Wolcott  was  chief  judge  during  the  years  1787-1796.  He 
was  the  son  of  Governor  Roger  Wolcott,  and  father  of  the  second  Gov- 
ernor Oliver  Wolcott.  He  was  not  a  member  of  the  Bar,  having  been 
first  a  soldier,  then  a  physician.  He  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  member  of  the  Continental  Congress ;  and  his  son 
was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Ellsworth,  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished men  of  his  time,  was  a  lawyer,  and,  by  common  consent,  the 
head  of  the  Bar  of  the  State.  He  sat  in  the  Continental  Congress  and 
assisted  in  framing  the  National  Constitution ;  then  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  United  States  Senate,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  and  Minister  to  France,  successively. 

Governor  Treadwell  was  a  noted  lawyer,  and  the  most  useful  mem- 
ber of  the  committee  for  revising  the  Statutes  of  1795.  Chauncey 
Goodrich  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of  a  family  re- 
markable for  civil  and  military  honors  and  literary  attainments.  He 
ranked  with  the  highest  in  his  chosen  profession,  the  law.  Both  he  and 
Treadwell  were  members  of  the  famous  Hartford  Convention.  He  was 
a  leader  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  a  speech  of  his,  in  that  body, 
is  said  to  have  been  the  occasion  of  De  Tocqueville's  memorable  remark 
about  the  important  position  occupied  by  the  State  represented  by  "  that 
little  yellow  spot  on  the  map." 

General  Erastus  Wolcott  was  a  brother  of  Chief  Judge  Oliver  WTol- 
cott,  and  had  been  a  brigadier-general  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 
He  aided  in  the  formation  of  the  National  Constitution.  Chester, 
Newberry,  Pitkin,  and  Wadsworth  had  been  officers  in  the  same  war. 
Nearly  all  in  the  foregoing  list  of  Hartford  County  members  were 
lawyers. 

Another  class  of  ex-officio  members  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  those 
who  held  the  office  of  Superior  Court  Judge  between  the  years  1807  and 
1855,  wdien  sitting  in  banc.  Of  these  there  were  twenty-four.  Four 
only  were  from  Hartford  County ;  namely :  Stephen  Mix  Mitchell,  Weth- 
ersfield ;  John  Trumbull,  Jr.,  Watertown  and  Hartford ;  John  Thompson 
Peters,  Hebron  and  Hartford ;  and  Thomas  Scott  Williams,  Wethers- 
field and  Hartford.  Mitchell  and  Williams  became  chief  judges.  All 
were  noted  lawyers  and  jurists,  and  Mitchell  arid  Williams  were  states- 
men. The  former  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  of 
the  United  States  Senate ;  the  latter  served  in  the  lower  house  of  Con- 
gress. Some  of  the  most  valuable  opinions  of  our  Supreme  Court  were 
written  by  Williams,  who  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  members 
of  the  celebrated  family  of  that  name. 

Since  1855  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  have  been  elected  and 
commissioned  as  such.    Of  these  there  have  been  fifteen,  of  whom  three 


9%  #&>&&:. 


THE   BENCH   AND   THE  BAR.  115 

were  contributed  by  Hartford  County.  These  were  :  Governor  William 
Wolcott  Ellsworth,  of  Windsor  and  Hartford  ;  Thomas  Belden  Butler, 
Wethersfield  and  Norwalk  ;  and  D  wight  Whitefield  Pardee,  Bristol  and 
Hartford.  Butler  was  chief  judge.  He  was  bred  first  to  the  medical, 
then  to  the  legal  profession.  He  wrote  many  valuable  opinions  and 
acquired  some  fame  as  an  author.  He  was  particularly  interested  in 
meteorology,  and  wrote  an  ingenious  volume  upon  the  subject.  Ells- 
worth, while  much  less  distinguished  than  his  father,  achieved  an 
honorable  record  on  the  Bench  and  in  the  lower  house  of  Congress. 
Pardee  is  still  upon  the  Bench.  Ellsworth  was  a  brother-in-law  of 
Chief  Judge  Williams,  and  a  son-in-law  of  Noah  Webster.  It  will 
be  seen  that  there  have  been,  from  the  beginning,  seventy-nine  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  that  nineteen  of  these  were  from  Hartford 
County.  There  have  been  seventeen  chief  judges,  of  whom  seven  were 
from  this  county. 

Until  1719  the  courts  were  held  in  the  "  Court  Chambers,"  on  the 
second  floor  of  the  "  Meeting-house."  Afterward,  until  the  completion 
of  the  County  building  (1885),  they  were  held  in  the  Capitol. 

Since  the  establishment  of  the  United  States  Court  for  the  District 
of  Connecticut,  in  1789,  the  Bench  of  that  court  has  been  occupied  by 
seven  judges  in  turn.  None  of  these  was  a  native  of  Hartford  County, 
and  but  two,  namely,  William  D.  Shipman  and  Nathaniel  Shipman  (the 
latter  the  present  incumbent),  were  ever  residents  of  Hartford  County. 

Prosecuting  Officers.  —  United  States  Attorneys  for  the  District 
of  Connecticut  have  been  thirteen  in  number  since  1789.  Of  these,  if 
we  exclude  those  born  in  other  counties,  but  three  were  contributed  by 
Hartford  County.  These  were :  Hezekiah  Huntington,  of  Suffield  and 
Hartford,  1807-1829  ;  Asa  Child,  of  Hartford,  1830-1835  ;  and  Thomas 
Clapp  Perkins,  of  Hartford,  1850-1853  (see  p.  143).  Huntington  was 
born  in  Tolland  when  it  was  in  Hartford  County.  He  was  a  student  of 
Gideon  Granger,  of  Suffield,  and  of  Judge  John  Trumbull,  of  Hartford. 

Three  others  resided  in  Hartford.  They  were:  Charles  Chapman, 
a  native  of  Newtown  ;  William  D.  Shipman,  born  in  Chester  ;  and  Lewis 
Elliott  Stanton  (the  present  incumbent),  a  native  of  Clinton.  Mr. 
Chapman,  son  of  Judge  Asa  Chapman,  was  a  representative  to  Con- 
gress, 1852-1853.  He  was  a  natural  orator,  and  his  skill  in  cross- 
examining  witnesses  was  almost  matchless. 

In  October,  1662,  the  first  step  was  taken  toward  establishing  the 
office  of  King's  Attorney  ;  or,  as  we  would  now  say,  State's  Attorney. 
William  Pitkin,  1st,  of  Hartford,  a  gentleman  who  proved  to  be  well 
qualified  for  the  place,  was  "  desired  and  appointed  "  by  the  General 
court  to  prosecute  certain  delinquents,  from  Wethersfield,  in  the  Par- 
ticular Court.  Pitkin  is  said  to  have  come  from  Norwich,  England,  and 
to  have  been  bred  a  lawyer.  But  his  first  occupation  here  was  that  of 
a  schoolmaster.  In  May,  1664,  the  General  Court  appointed  him  their 
Attorney,  "  to  implead  any  delinquents  in  the  Colony."  In  the  same 
year  he  was  granted  "  twenty  nobles,  for  his  pains  in  prosecuting  "  Cap- 
tain John  Scott,  who  was  charged  with  seditious  practices.  Mr.  Pitkin 
died  in  1694,  aged  fifty-nine  years.1 

1  For  a  notice  of  his  eminence  in  his  profession,  see  J.  Hammond  Trumbull's  note  to 
p.  165,  vol.  iii.,  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut. 


116  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

A  long-continued  and  earnest  effort,  on  the  part  of  the  writer,  to 
prepare  a  complete  list  of  the  prosecuting  officers  of  the  colony  and 
State  has  been  unavailing.  The  public  records  do  not,  in  some  cases, 
afford  the  means  of  ascertaining  their  names  or  dates  of  appointment. 
Richard  Edwards,  of  Hartford,  mentioned  elsewhere,  was  probably  the 
first  Queen's  Attorney,  for  he  was  appointed  in  April,  1705.  The  office 
had  been  first  created  in  May,  1704.  The  act  provided  that  there 
should  be  "  in  every  countie,  a  sober,  discreet,  and  religious  person, 
appointed  by  the  County  Courts,  to  be  Atturney  for  the  Queen ;  to 
prosecute  and  implead  in  the  lawe  all  criminall  offenders,  and  to  doe 
all  other  things  necessary  or  convenient,  as  an  Atturney,  to  suppress 
vice  and  immorallitie." 

Edwards  seems  to  have  held  the  office  until  1712  or  1713,  perhaps 
until  1717.  At  about  the  latter  date,  perhaps  as  early  as  1711,  John 
Read,  of  Stratford,  began  to  hold  the  office,  and  he  seems  to  have  acted 
officially  throughout  the  colony.1  Since  Read's  term  of  office  there 
have  been  twenty-two,  at  least,  who  succeeded  him.  Peter  Pratt,  of 
Hartford,  but  earlier  of  Lyme,  became  King's  Attorney  in  1719.  He 
was  a  noted  and  successful  lawyer,  and  remarkable  for  his  forensic 
eloquence.2  John  Bissell,  of  Windsor,  succeeded  him  in  1727,  and 
Pelatiah  Mills,  of  the  same  place,  followed  in  1728.  He  was  succeeded 
by  Joseph  Gilbert,  of  Hartford,  in  1730  (?).  Roger  Wolcott,  Jr.,  of 
Windsor,  held  the  office  from  1731  to  1753.  Mention  has  been  made 
of  these  last  five  names,  and  of  Edwards,  elsewhere.  Daniel  Edwards, 
of  Hartford,  son  of  Richard,  above  mentioned,  held  the  office  in  1753. 
Thomas  Seymour,  3d,  of  Hartford,  appears  to  have  held  the  same  office 
in  1756.  Colonel  Thomas  Seymour,  4th,  of  Hartford,  afterward  an 
officer  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  was  the  incumbent  from  1767  to 
1776.  He  was  the  last  of  the  King's  Attorneys.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Oliver  Ellsworth,  State's  Attorney,  of  Windsor,  of  whom  some  account 
is  given  under  the  head  of  "  Judges." 

Colonel  Jesse  Root,  of  Coventry  and  Hartford,  having  honorably 
served  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  became  the  prosecuting  officer  for 
this  county  in  1785,  holding  the  place  until  1789.  He  became  Chief 
Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  in  1798,  and  there  remained  until  that 
court  was  constituted  the  Supreme  Court.  To  him  we  are  indebted  for 
the  two  very  early  volumes  of  Reports  of  cases  adjudicated  in  our  Su- 
preme Court,  bearing  his  name.  He  was  born  in  Northampton,  Mass., 
and  had  preached  some  three  years  before  his  admission  to  the  Bar. 

John  Trumbull,  Jr.,  a  native  of  Watertown,  and  a  cousin  of  Gov- 
ernor Jonathan  Trumbull,  Sr.,  was  State's  Attorney  for  this  county 

1  From  memoranda  furnished  to  me  by  the  Hon.  .T.  Hammond  Trumbull,  and  from  Todd's 
"  History  of  Redding,"  the  writer  is  able  to  give  the  following  facts  concerning  this  remarkable 
man.  He  was  born  in  Connecticut  in  1680 ;  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1697  ;  ad- 
mitted an  attorney  in  New  Haven  in  1708  ;  appointed  Queen's  Attorney  in  1711 ;  went  to  New 
London  the  same  year  to  prosecute  John  Rogers,  the  leader  of  the  sect  of  "Rogerenes;"  left 
"Lonetown  Manor"  (Stratford)  in  1722,  removing  to  Boston;  became  Attorney-General  of 
Massachusetts,  and  the  most  eminent  lawyer  in  New  England ;  was  the  author  of  a  Latin 
Grammar,  published  in  Boston  in  1736  ;  died  in  February,  1749,  leaving  a  large  estate.  His 
wife  was  Ruth,  daughter  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Talcott,  of  Hartford,  where  Mr.  Read 
lived  for  some  years,  and  where  one  or  two  of  his  first  children  were  born. 

2  His  mother  was  the  divorced  wife  of  the  John  Rogers  mentioned  in  note  1.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  Matthew  Griswold,  Sr.  Pratt  became  a  Rogerene  ;  but,  having  been  imprisoned 
for  this  offence,  he  published  a  recantation  of  the  heresy. 


(^{i  a^  LsU  aJ^^o^ 


THE  BENCH  AND  THE  BAR  117 

from  1789  to  1795.  He  had  been  graduated  at  Yale  College,  and 
admitted  an  attorney  at  New  Haven,  before  his  arrival  in  Hartford, 
which  was  in  1781.  A  part  of  his  legal  training  was  received  in 
the  law-office  of  President  John  Adams.  He  is  well  'known  as  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  but  most  widely  known  as  the  author  of 
"  McFingal,"  which  was  completed  in  Hartford.  He  died  in  Detroit, 
Michigan,  in  1831. 

Thomas  Young  Seymour,  of  Hartford,  succeeded  Trumbull,  being 
in  office  from  1796  to  1807.  To  him  Jonathan  Brace,  of  Hartford,  suc- 
ceeded, 1807-1809.  He  was  a  native  of  Harwinton,  and  a  law-student 
of  Oliver  Ellsworth ;  he  settled  in  Vermont,  where  he  was  a  State's 
Attorney.  He  resided  in  Glastonbury  from  1786  to  1794,  when  he 
removed  to  Hartford.  He  was  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  and  a  rep- 
resentative to  Congress.  Chauncey  Goodrich  succeeded,  until  1811. 
Enoch  Perkins,  of  Hartford,  followed,  from  1812  to  1818.  Hezekiah 
Huntington,  of  Suffield  and  Hartford,  filled  the  term  from  1819  to  1822. 

Isaac  Toucey,  a  native  of  Newtown,  was  State's  Attorney  from  1823 
to  1835,  and  again  in  1843-1844.  Making  Hartford  his  residence,  he 
became  one  of  Connecticut's  distinguished  lawyers  and  statesmen. 
He  served  with  credit  during  two  terms  in  the  Lower  House  of  Con- 
gress. He  was  Attorney-General  during  part  of  the  administration  of 
President  Polk ;  United  States  Senator,  1851—1857 ;  and  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  in  Buchanan's  Cabinet.     He  was  Governor  of  the  State  in  1846. 

Henry  A.  Mitchell,  of  Bristol  and  Hartford,  served  two  years,  1836- 
1838.  He  was  something  of  a  politician,  and  for  a  time  edited  the 
"Hartford  Times."  He  is  still  living.  Isaac  Perkins,  of  Hartford, 
served  from  1839  to  1840. 

Thomas  Clapp  Perkins,  of  Hartford,  was  State's  Attorney  in  1841- 
1842,  and  again  in  1845-1846.  He  was  a  son  of  Enoch  Perkins,  and 
his  mother  was  a  member  of  the  famous  Pitkin  family.  He  had  little 
taste  for  politics  or  for  political  offices.  He  was  United  States 
Attorney  for  the  District  of  Connecticut,  and  might  have  been  Chief 
Judge  Storrs's  successor  on  the  Supreme  Court  Bench,  having  been 
elected  to  that  office  in  1861.  He  was  at  the  time  of  his  decease  the 
recognized  head  of  the  Bar  of  the  county,  if  not  of  the  State. 

Governor  Richard  Dudley  Hubbard,  a  distinguished  son  of  Connecti- 
cut, was  State's  Attorney  during  the  terms  1847-1854  and  1857-1869. 
Of  humble  origin,  he  was  born  in  Berlin,  but  passed  his  boyhood  in 
East  Hartford.  He  was  less  noted  for  scholarship  in  his  class  at  Yale 
College  than  he  af- 

terward   became    in        y^^        G~L—^?s  S    * 

the  legal  profession  ;  ^£^  .  ^  /0^^^^-^^^^^> 
but,   as   he    himself 

has  said,  he  paid  particular  attention  to  belles-lettres  and  oratory. 
He  was  brilliant  and  eloquent  as  an  advocate,  keen  as  a  public 
prosecutor,  learned  as  a  lawyer,  honorable  and  high-minded  in  all  his 
official  duties.  A  democrat  in  politics,  he  was  not  a  partisan ;  and  his 
patriotism  was  conspicuous  in  the  late  Civil  War.  He  occupied  a  seat 
in  the  Lower  House  of  Congress,  and  was  Governor  of  the  State.  In 
the  last  years  of  his  life  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  State  Bar. 

Mr.  Horace  Cornwall  succeeded  Governor  Hubbard  as  State's  At- 
torney- at  the  close  of  his  first  term  of  office,  for  two  years.     Mr.  William 


118 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY". 


THE    HON.    RICHARD    D.    HUBBARD. 


Hamersley,  who  took  the  office  upon  Governor  Hubbard's  resignation 
in  1869,  has  held  it  ever  since.  He,  Mr.  Mitchell,  and  Mr.  Cornwall 
arc  the  only  persons  now  living  who  have  held  the  office. 

Lawyers.  —  There  were  attorneys  in  fact,  as  contradistinguished 
from  attorneys  at  law,  quite  early  in  the  history  of  the  colony. 
Persons  —  usually  without  legal  training  —  armed  with  a  letter  of  at- 
torney from  a  suitor,  appeared  in  court,  and  were,  by  special  permission, 
allowed  to  act  in  behalf  of  their  constituents.  In  May,  1667,  Thomas 
Welles,  son  of  Governor  Thomas  Welles,  and  William  Pitkin,  Sr.,  were 
recognized  as  attorneys  for  certain  petitioners  who  were  proprietors  of 
lands  on  the  east  side  of  Connecticut  River;  but  Welles  was  not  a 
lawyer.1 

In  1667  the  General  Court  declared  that  a,  former  order  prohibiting 
"  all  persons  from  pleading  in  ye  behalfe  of  any  person  y*  is  charged  and 
prosecuted  for  delinquency,"  had  been  disregarded  ;  and  it  ordered  that 
"  what  person  or  persons  soever  shall  take  that  boldnes  to  himselfe  as 
to  plead  or  speake  in  the  behalfe  of  any  person  y*  is  upon  examination 
or  tryal,  for  delinquency  (except  he  speak  directly  to  matter  of  law, 

1  Such,  also,  was  Thomas  Burnhani,  of  Hartford,  who  was  allowed  to  act  as  attorney  in 
some  cases  ;  one,  in  the  Quarter  Court  (as  counsel  for  Jeremy  Adams),  as  early  as  1659. 


THE  BENCH   AND   THE  BAR.  119 

and  with  leave  from  ye  authority  present)  he  shall  pay  ten  shillings  to 
ye  Publick  Treasure,  as  a  line ;  or  sit  in  ye  stocks  one  hour,  for  every 
such  offence."  This  is  but  one  of  the  many  indications  of  the  hostility 
of  the  courts  to  those  few  who  assumed  to  act  as  lawyers. 

In  May,  1708,  the  office  of  attorney  at  law  seems  to  have  been  first 
authorized  by  law.1  But  the  act  probably  contemplated  only  the  right 
to  plead,  after  special  permission  from  the  Court,  in  each  particular 
case ;  although  the  official  oath  rendered  the  incumbent  competent  to 
"  use  yourself  in  the  office  of  atturney,  within  the  court "  wherein  the 
oath  was  administered.  In  other  words,  a  class  was  created,  out  of 
which  practitioners  were  to  be  selected  by  the  court,  in  causes,  as  they 
arose.  But  one  grade  of  attorney  was  known,  the  different  grades  or 
ranks  in  the  English  courts  having  never  existed  here. 

The  earliest  regularly  admitted  attorneys  of  Hartford  County,  and 
of  the  colony  (if  we  except  Clarke  and  Hosford,  admitted  by  Andros), 
were  those  of  1708.  Richard  Edwards,  of  Hartford,  was  admitted  by 
the  County  Court  in  September  of  that  year,  and  by  the  Court  of  As- 
sistants in  October.  He  was  about  sixty  years  of  age  at  the  time ;  his 
grandson,  the  elder  Jonathan  Edwards,  being  then  but  five  years  old.2 

When,  in  1691,  he  had  petitioned  for  a  divorce  from  his  wife,  he  had 
prayed  that  he  might  "  have  relief  therein,  if  the  law  of  God  or  man 
will  afford  it;"  and  for  "  a  committee  of  able  divines  upon  his  charge." 
Upon  a  report  submitted  by  certain  "  divines,"  the  General  Court 
granted  him  a  favorable  decree.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  the  two  Presi- 
dents Jonathan  Edwards,  Governor  Henry  W.  Edwards,  Judge  Ogden 
Edwards  of  New  York,  Judge  Pierpont  Edwards  of  Connecticut,  Aaron 
Burr,  and  others  distinguished  in  law  and  theology. 

Governor  Roger  Wolcott,  Sr.,  of  Windsor,  was  admitted  at  the  same 
time  with  Edwards.  He  was  about  twenty-eight  years  old.  He  is  so 
well  known  to  Connecticut  in  civil  and  military  relations,  that  we  need 
say  no  more  of  him  at  this  time.  His  poetical  effusions  did  not  do 
him  equal  credit  with  his  other  efforts.  Captain  John  Wadsworth,  of 
Farmington,  was  admitted  at  this  time.  Captain  Thomas  Welles,  of 
Wethersfield,  a  grandson  of  Governor  Thomas  Welles,  was  also  ad- 
mitted in  1708.  He  was  attorney  for  the  defendants  in  the  important 
suit  of  Nathaniel  Hooker  vs.  Wethersfield,  —  a  case  which  involved  the 
question  of  the  right  of  the  plaintiff  to  share  in  an  allotment  of  public 
lands  made  nearly  forty  years  before,  and  which  was  sought  to  be  car- 
ried to  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench.  In  Welles's  brief  in  this  case  he 
quoted  largely  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  He  died  in  1711,  at  the  age 
of  forty-nine  years,  and  before  a  final  issue  of  the  suit. 

Edwards,  Wolcott,  Wadsworth,  and  Welles  were  the  first  regularly 
admitted  attorneys  within  their  respective  townships. 

In  the  following  year  Captain  Joseph  Wadsworth  (famous  for  hav- 
ing secreted  the  Charter),  Thomas  Olcott  (better  known  as  a  constable), 
and  Captain  Aaron  Cook,  Sr.,  all  of  Hartford,  were  admitted  to  the 
legal  fraternity.      So  were  Samuel  Moore,  of  Windsor,  and  Joseph 

1  Captain  Daniel  Clarke,  of  Windsor,  who  had  been  Secretary  of  the  Colony,  was  allowed 
to  take  the  attorney's  oath,  in  the  Andros  Court  of  Sessions,  at  Hartford,  in  March,  1687-8. 
But  no  law  of  this  Colony  authorized  the  act,  William  Hosford,  of  the  same  town,  was 
admitted  with  Clarke. 

2  He  had  acted  as  an  attorney  as  early  as  1684.  In  1702-3  he  had  argued  a  fugitive  slave 
case  against  Saltonstall. 


120  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Kirby,  Jr.,  of  Middletown,  —  the  latter  being  the  first  one  from  his 
township. 

Edward  Bulkeley,  of  Wethersfield,  son  of  the  Rev.  Gershom  Bulkeley, 
heretofore  mentioned,  was  admitted  in  1711  ;  but  his  grist-mill  and 
his  fulling-mill  probably  occupied  most  of  his  time.  Thomas  Kimberly, 
of  Glastonbury,  followed  in  1712.  He  was  for  some  years  Colonial 
Secretary.     He  had  been  for  years  the  schoolmaster  of  Wethersfield. 

With  him  was  admitted  Abram  Morris,  of  Wethersfield.  Captain 
Thomas  Stoughton,  of  Windsor  (east  side  ?),  dates  his  attorneyship 
from  1714.  John  Bissell,  also  of  Windsor,  but  later  of  Bolton,  joined 
in  the  same  year.  He  became  one  of  the  most  noted  lawyers  of  the 
colony.  Daniel  Hooker,  of  Hartford,  was  admitted  at  the  same  time. 
He  was  probably  more  successful  as  an  army  surgeon  than  as  a  member 
of  the  bar.1 

At  this  time  few  in  America  could  have  had  the  advantages  of  a  legal 
training;  and  few  desired  them,  excepting  on  the  ground,  as  Black- 
stone  puts  it,  that  "  a  competent  knowledge  of  that  society  in  which  we 
live  is  the  proper  accomplishment  of  every  gentleman  and  scholar." 
Text-books  of  the  law  were  almost  unknown.  There  were  a  few 
copies  of  Fleta  and  of  the  treatises  of  Bracton  and  Glanville,  all  in  Latin, 
in  the  colony.  How  many  had,  or  understood,  the  law  French  of  Brit- 
ton,  or  the  Tenures  of  Littleton  in  their  law  French  form,  even  with 
the  learned  explications,  in  Latin  and  English,  of  Sir  Edward  Coke  ? 
None  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale's  works  were  published  until  years  later, 
although  written  years  before.  Besides,  the  common  law  of  England 
was  not  accepted  as  of  binding  force  in  this  colony,  and  so  there  was 
less  reason  for  learning  it.  And  the  learned  and  bigoted  fulminations 
of  Cotton  Mather  were  more  potent  to  wield  public  opinion,  especially 
in  witchcraft,  and  other  cases  founded  largely  upon  superstition,  than 
the  best  legal  arguments  that  could  then  have  been  made. 

A  new  attorney,  from  Windsor,  appears  in  1719,  —  Pelatiah  Mills, 
the  principal  taverner  of  that  place. 

In  1730  a  law  was  enacted  limiting  the  number  of  attorneys  in  the 
colony  to  eleven.  Three  were  apportioned  to  Hartford,  and  two  to 
each  of  the  other  counties ;  all  to  be  appointed  by  the  respective  county 
courts.  The  same  courts  were  to  appoint  one  King's  Attorney  in  each 
county.  The  three  attorneys  appointed  for  Hartford  County  were  : 
Joseph  Gilbert,  of  Hartford  (admitted  in  1727)  ;  Roger  Wolcott,  Jr.,  of 
Windsor;  John  Curtis,  of  Wethersfield.  Wolcott  was  also  appointed 
King's  Attorney.  The  number  authorized  by  this  act  was  too  small, 
and  after  a  year's  trial  the  act  was  repealed. 

Lieutenant  Samuel  Pettibone,  Jr.,  of  Simsbury,  was  admitted  in 
1729,  the  first  attorney  from  that  township.  He  removed  to  Goshen, 
and  became  King's  Attorney  for  Litchfield  County.  John  Curtis,  of 
Wethersfield,  was  admitted  the  same  year<  but  in  1732  he  removed 
to  New  London,  in  order  to  assume  the  duties  of  treasurer  of  the  "  New 
London  Society  united  for  Trade  and  Commerce."  And  we  may  here 
remark  that  this  was  the  first  corporation,  strictly  private,  ever  incor- 
porated by  our  General  Assembly  ;  its  history  is  given  more  fully  in 
Mr.  Swift's  paper  elsewhere.2    It  resulted  in  the  financial  ruin  of  Curtis, 

1  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1700,  and  was  the  first  tutor  of  Yale,  1702-3. 

2  Commerce  and  Banking,  p.  328. 


THE   BENCH   AND   THE   BAR  121 

of  John  Bissell,  and  other  lawyers  and  worthy  citizens,  who  embarked 
therein.  Its  charter  was  repealed  in  the  following  year;  and  it  was 
not  until  1792  that  (with  the  exception  of  Yale  College)  another  private 
corporation  existed  with  the  express  sanction  of  the  legislature. 

No  manufacturing  corporation  existed  prior  to  1810,  and  but  one 
insurance  company  and  six  banks  antedate  the  year  1800.  Thus  we 
see  that  vast  interests,  which  to-day  occupy  much  of  the  attention  of 
our  courts  and  lawyers,  were  then  almost  wholly  wanting. 

Captain  Thomas  Seymour,  3d,  of  Hartford,  was  admitted  in  1740. 
He  died  a  few  years  later.  He  was  the  father  of  Colonel  Thomas  Sey- 
mour, 4th,  also  an  attorney.  Seth  Wetmore,  of  Middletown  (then  in 
Hartford  County),  was  admitted  in  1742.  The  old  spelling  of  this  name 
was  Whitmore. 

In  1751  the  number  of  members  of  Hartford  County  Bar  was  some- 
what reduced,  by  the  detachment  of  a  large  part  of  Hartford  County  to 
form  the  new  county  of  Litchfield.  Windham  had  been  detached  in 
172(3. 

Asa  Phelps,  of  Hebron,  was  admitted  in  1756.  Elisha  Steele  was 
admitted  from  Tolland  the  same  year ;  so  was  Colonel  Thomas  Sey- 
mour, 4th,  of  Hartford.  The  latter  was  afterward  an  active  officer  of 
the  Revolution,  and  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Safety.  He  was  a 
successful  lawyer,  having  an  office  on  the  south  side  of  the  present 
Arch  Street,  opposite  to  his  dwelling-house.  He  was  the  first  Mayor 
of  the  city  of  Hartford. 

Titus  Hosmer,  of  Middletown,  was  admitted  in  1760.  Though  he  died 
at  the  early  age  of  forty-four  years,  he  lived  long  enough  to  be  classed 
by  Noah  Webster  as  one  of  the  "  Three  Mighties ; "  the  other  two 
being  William  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.,  and  Chief  Justice  Oliver  Ells- 
worth. He  was  a  student  in  the  natural  sciences  and  the  languages, 
possessed  a  poetic  mind,  and  encouraged  Joel  Barlow,  a  brother  lawyer, 
to  write  the  "  Vision  of  Columbus."  In  the  stirring  days  of  the  Revo- 
lution he  was  an  ardent  patriot,  and  one  of  the  most  active  members  of 
the  Council  of  Safety.  He  several  times  represented  Connecticut  in  the 
Continental  Congress.  He  belongs  to  Hartford  County,  for  he  died  be- 
fore the  formation  of  Middlesex.  He  was  father  of  the  distinguished 
jurist,  Stephen  Titus  Hosmer. 

Bildad  Phelps  was  admitted,  from  Windsor,  in  1760.  Silas  Deane,  of 
Wethersfield,  a  native  of  Groton,  was  admitted  in  1761.  A  notice  of  him 
appears  in  Vol.  II.  of  this  work  (p.  471).  Benjamin  Payne,  of  Hartford, 
admitted  in  1762,  represented  his  town  in  the  General  Assembly,  in  the 
Revolutionary  period,  and,  in  addition,  was  one  of  the  busiest  members 
of  the  Council  of  Safety,  and  of  the  Committee  on  the  issue  of  Colonial 
Paper  Money.  Gideon  Granger,  Sr.,  of  Suffield,  admitted  in  1763, 
though  less  noted  than  his  son  of  the  same  name,  was  distinguished  in 
his  profession.  Jedediah  Strong,  admitted  at  Hartford  in  1764,  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  same  who  was  afterward  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Salis- 
bury. He  was  several  times  elected  to  the  Continental  Congress,  but 
declined  to  take  office.  With  him  were  admitted  Joseph  Isham,  Jr.,  of 
Colchester,  and  Roswell  Welles,  of  Windsor. 

General  Roger  Newberry,  Jr.,  of  Windsor,  was  admitted  in  1765. 
His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Roger  Wolcott,  Sr.  He  was  Judge  of 
the  County  Court,  was  successful  as  a  lawyer  and  merchant,  and  served 


122  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

with  distinction  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Major  William  Judcl,  of 
Farmington,  an  officer  of  the  Revolution,  and  William  Nichols,  of  Hart- 
ford, were  also  admitted  in  1765.  Major  Judd  was  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  lawyers  and  patriots  in  the  colony.  He  was  chairman  of 
the  Convention  of  citizens  of  the  State  in  New  Haven,  in  1804,  which 
had  for  its  object  the  formation  of  a  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  a 
State  Constitution.  The  General  Assembly  was  so  offended  by  his 
prominent  action  in  the  matter  that  it  revoked  his  commission  as  a 
justice  of  the  peace.  Nichols  was  the  army  paymaster  of  that  name 
in  the  Revolution. 

Ralph  Pomeroy,  of  Hartford,  admitted  in  1768,  was  an  army  pay- 
master in  the  Revolution,  but  I  am  not  informed  as  to  his  professional 
life.     He  removed  to  Litchfield  County. 

Chief  Judge  Stephen  Mix  Mitchell,  of  Wethersfield,  having  been  a 
student  of  Jared  Ingersoll,  was  admitted  in  Fairfield  County  in  1770. 
He  began  practising  law  in  his  native  town  in  1772.  So  much  has 
been  said  of  him  elsewhere  that  we  omit  further  mention  of  him  here. 

Jonathan  Ingersoll  was  admitted  from  Middlctown  in  1770,  but  his 
professional  life  was  spent  in  New  Haven.  Joseph  Church,  Jr.,  of 
Hartford,  was  admitted  in  1771,  but  I  know  nothing  more  of  him. 

Pierpont  Edwards,  of  New  Haven,  lawyer,  soldier,  and  judge,  while 
admitted  at  Hartford,  was  born  at  Northampton,  Mass.,  and  practised 
his  profession  at  New  Haven.  He  probably  did  not  practise  in 
Hartford. 

Judge  Tapping  Reeve,  born  at  Brookhaven,  on  Long  Island,  became 
a  member  of  the  legal  profession,  at  Hartford,  in  1771.  But  he  opened 
a  law  office  in  Litchfield  as  early,  it  is  said,  as  1772,  and,  as  is  well 
known,  founded  the  famous  Law  School  there  in  1784.  Of  Charles 
Whiting,  Jr.,  admitted  from  Middlctown  in  1772,  we  know  only  that 
he  removed  to  Great  Barrington,  Mass.,  where  he  was  an  officer  of  the 
Revolution. 

Captain  Daniel  Humphrey,  of  Simsbury,  joined  the  legal  fraternity 
in  1774,  as  did  Thomas  Kimberley,  of  Glastonbury.  The  latter  lost 
his  life  by  the  explosion  of  a  powder-mill,  in  1777. 

Chief  Justice  Oliver  Ellsworth  became  a  lawyer,  from  Windsor,  in 
1777.  He  has  been  fully  noticed  elsewhere.  Sylvester  Gilbert,  of 
Hebron,  who  joined  in  1778,  was  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the  State. 
He  was  a  student  of  Jesse  Root's  law  office  in  Hartford  ;  and  it  is  said 
that  fifty-six  law-students  fitted  for  the  profession  in  Mr.  Gilbert's  office 
in  Hebron.  After  the  formation  of  Tolland  County  (1786)  he  became 
State's  Attorney  for  twenty-one  years,  County  Court  Judge  for  eigh- 
teen years,  and  representative  to  Congress. 

The  year  1780  witnessed  the  admission  of  Benjamin  Farnham,  of 
Simsbury,  Zephaniah  Swift,  of  Lebanon,  Asher  Miller  and  Ezekiel  Gil- 
bert, of  Middletown,  and  Thomas  Young  Seymour,  of  Hartford.  Of 
Farnham  nothing  definite  is  known  to  the  writer.  Miller  became  one 
of  the  foremost  lawyers  of  the  new  county  of  Middlesex,  formed  soon 
thereafter.  Swift,  the  distinguished  chief  judge  and  law-writer,  cannot, 
we  are  sorry  to  say,  be  claimed  for  this  county,  for  he  was  a  native  of 
Wareham,  Mass.,  and  a  resident  of  Lebanon,  Mansfield,  and  Windham. 
Seymour  became  prominent  in  his  profession.  Gilbert  removed  to 
Hudson,  New  York,  where  he  became  a  representative  to  Congress. 


THE   BENCH    AND   THE   BAR.  123 

In  1781  there  were  added  five  bright  luminaries  to  the  fraternity. 
They  were:  Alexander  Wolcott,  Jr.,  of  Windsor;  Jeremiah  Gates 
Brainard,  of  East  Haddam  and  New  London  ;  Noah  Webster,  Jr.,  of 
Hartford;  John  Trumbull,  Jr.,  of  Watertown ;  and  Samuel  Whittlesey 
Dana,  of  Wallingford  and  Middletown. 

Wolcott  was  a  distinguished  member  of  a  distinguished  family.  A 
Republican  in  politics,  he  was,  in  the  opinion  of  John  M.  Niles,  the 
founder  of  the  Jeffersonian  school  of  politics  in  Connecticut.  President 
Jefferson  made  him  a  Collector  of  Customs  for  the  district  of  Middle- 
town,  and  President  Madison  nominated  him  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  The  Senate  did  not  confirm  the  nomina- 
tion ;  and  Judge  Story,  after  the  same  place  had  been  offered  to  John 
Quincy  Adams,  was  elected  thereto.  Wolcott  was  a  delegate,  from 
Middletown,  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1818. 

Trumbull  practised  law  in  Hartford  until  1794.  But  he  did  not 
neglect  his  literary  pursuits ;  and,  indeed,  it  was  during  this  period 
(in  1782)  that  he  completed  his  world-famous  epic,  "  McFingal." 
(See  further,  under  "  State's  Attorneys.") 

General  Dana  can  hardly  be  credited  to  this  county,  for  he  was  a 
native  of  Wallingford,  and  during  his  long  residence  in  Middletown  but 
four  years  of  it  elapsed  prior  to  the  detachment  of  that  township  from 
Hartford  County. 

Webster,  the  great  lexicographer,  a  descendant  of  Governors  Web- 
ster, of  Connecticut,  and  Bradford,  of  Plymouth  Colony,  was  a  native 
of  Hartford,  West  Society.  Ho  may  have  received  part  of  his  legal 
training  from  Chief  Justice  Oliver  Ellsworth,  in  whose  family  he  lived 
for  some  months.  He  did  not  at  once  upon  his  admission  open  a  law 
office,  but  continued  in  his  favorite  occupation  of  instructor.  From 
1789  to  1793  he  practised  law  in  Hartford ;  but  at  the  latter  date  he 
resumed  literary  work,  such  as  he  had  done  in  early  life.  After  this 
he  was  not  an  active  member  of  the  profession,  though  he  often  wrote 
upon  legal  and  political  questions,  strongly  espousing  the  Federal 
cause. 

Oliver  Lewis,  admitted  in  1783,  may  have  been  the  person  of  that 
name  from  Southington,  who  died  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  in  1784. 

General  Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  of  Lyme  and  Middletown,  became 
a  member  of  the  Bar  of  this  county  in  1783.  He  was  mainly  instru- 
mental in  the  formation  of  Middlesex  County,  whereof  he  remained  a 
resident  until  his  removal  to  Ohio. 

Ephraim  Root,  a  prominent  lawyer,  admitted  in  1784,  practised  law 
in  Hartford  from  that  date  until  1812. 

On  Nov.  14,  1783,  the  foundations  were  laid  for  the  present  Bar 
Association  of  Hartford  County.  The  original  document,  containing 
the  regulations  which  will  govern  the  signers  in  recommending  "  young 
Gentlemen,"  candidates  for  admission  to  the  Bar,  is  in  the  possession 
of  Charles  J.  Hoadly,  Esq.  It  is  signed  by  Sylvester  Gilbert,  Asher 
Miller,  Samuel  W.  Dana,  Chauncey  Goodrich,  Thomas  Chester,  William 
Whitman,  Oliver  Wolcott,  Jr.,  Ephraim  Root,  John  Williams,  William 
Moseley,  Thomas  Seymour,  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Jesse  Root,  Dyar  Throop, 
Gideon  Granger,  William  Judd,  Roger  Newberry,  Samuel  H.  Parsons, 
William  Nichols,  Joseph  Isham,  Jr.,  Samuel  Lyman,  John  Trumbull, 


124  MEMORIAL   HISTOEY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Thomas  Y.  Seymour,  Benjamin  Farnham,  Enoch  Perkins,  Timothy 
Pitkin,  Jr.,  Nathaniel  Terry,  Jr.,  Gideon  Granger,  Jr.,  William  Kibbe, 
William  Williston,  Gaylord  Griswold,  and  Hezekiah  Bissell,  —  thirty- 
two  in  all.  They  could  not  all  have  signed  as  attorneys  at  the  date 
borne  upon  the  instrument,  for  some  were  not  admitted  until  1789  and 
1790.  Judge  Miller  and  Mr.  Dana  were  of  Middletown,  General  Throop 
of  East  Haddam,  and  Captain  Isham  of  Colchester. 

In  1785  Chief  Judge  Stephen  Titus  Hosmer  was  admitted  from 
Middletown.  But  in  the  same  year  the  formation  of  Middlesex  County 
made  him  a  member  of  the  Bar  of  that  county.  Thomas  Webster,  of 
Wethersfield,  Newington  Society,  was  admitted  the  same  year ;  as  was 
William  Whitman,  of  Hartford.  Colonel  Jesse  Root,  a  native  of  North- 
ampton, Mass.,  entered  the  legal  profession  at  Hartford  in  1785,  and 
practised  law  there  until  1789.  This  distinguished  jurist  is  mentioned 
elsewhere. 

Joel  Barlow,  poet  and  diplomat,  while  a  native  of  Redding,  became 
a  member  of  the  Hartford  Bar  in  1785,  and  so  remained  until  1789. 
During  his  residence  in  Hartford  (he  lived  also  some  months  in  Weth- 
ersfield) he  edited  the  "  American  Mercury  "  and  wrote  the  "  Vision  of 
Columbus."  It  does  not  appear  that  he  practised  law  in  any  other 
place.  Jonathan  Brace,  mentioned  elsewhere,  began  practising  law  in 
Glastonbury  in  1786.     He  was  admitted  in  Bennington,  VTt.,  in  1779. 

Uriel  Holmes,  admitted  in  1787,  if  he  ever  lived  in  Hartford,  re- 
moved to  New  Hartford,  where  he  practised  in  his  profession,  and  was 
sent  thence,  or  from  Hartiand,  a  representative  to  Congress. 

Gideon  Granger,  Jr.,  of  Sufheld,  admitted  in  1789,  became  a  distin- 
guished member  of  the  Bar.  He  was  active  in  originating  our  Common 
School  Fund,  and  was  Postmaster-General,  1801-1814.  William  Willis- 
ton,  a  native  of  SufKeld  (?),  was  admitted  the  same  year.  He  practised 
in  Simsbury  until  1817. 

General  Nathaniel  Terry,  a  native  of  Enfield,  after  graduation  at 
Yale  College  became  a  student  of  Jesse  Root,  and  was  admitted  an 
attorney  in  1790.  He  practised  first  at  EnfieJd,  then  at  Hartford, 
1796-1844.  He  represented  this  district  in  Congress  one  term,  was 
Judge  of  the  County  Court,  and  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  1818.  He  was  a  studious  and  thorough  lawyer,  devoted  to 
his  profession.  Gaylord  Griswold,  Windsor,  and  Decius  Wadsvvorth, 
Farmington  and  Hartford,  were  admitted  in  1790.  The  former  went 
to  New  York  about  1793,  and  became  a  representative  to  Congress. 
The  latter  disappears  from  the  list  of  attorneys  in  1794. 

Hezekiah  Huntington,  of  Tolland,  Suffield,  and  Hartford,  joined  the 
Bar  in  1791,  having  been  a  student  of  Gideon  Granger,  Sr.,  and  of  John 
Trumbull.     He  was  many  years  a  lawyer  in  the  latter  town. 

Joseph  Backus,  admitted  the  same  year,  practised  in  Glastonbury 
until  1796,  then  in  Stratford,  and  finally  in"  Bridgeport.  We  sup- 
pose him  to  have  been  the  author  of  a  volume  relating  to  the  Office  of 
Sheriff,  etc.  One  Root,  an  attorney  in  Granby,  1797-1799,  was  proba- 
bly General  Erastus  Root,  born  in  Hebron  ;  removed  to  New  York,  where 
he  was  a  major-general  and  representative  to  Congress. 

Theodore  Dwight,  Si-.,  a  native  of  Northampton,  Mass.,  and  a  stu- 
dent of  Pierpont  Edwards,  at  New  Haven,  was  admitted  from  Green- 
wich, in  1787.     He  practised  at  Haddam  until  1791,  when  he  removed 


THE   BENCH   AND   THE   BAR.  125 

to  Hartford,  where  he  practised  until  1813.  He  served  one  term  as 
a  representative  to  Congress.  After  1815  he  followed  journalism  at 
Albany  and  New  York,  until  1836,  when  he  returned  to  Hartford.  He 
was  Secretary  of  the  Hartford  Convention,  and  published  a  history  of 
it,  besides  other  works.     He  was  a  descendant  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 

Heretofore  I  have  given  the  names  and  dates  of  admission  of  all 
members  of  the  Bar  of  this  county,  so  far  as  a  thorough  search  of  origi- 
nal court  records  discloses  them.  I  now  give  the  entire  list  of  Hartford 
County  lawyers,  or  "  Practising  Attorneys,"  as  they  appear  in  the  "  Con- 
necticut Register  "  for  1789.     They  are  seventeen  :  — 

Jesse  Root,  William  Nichols,  Chauncey  Goodrich,  Thomas  Y.  Seymour,  John 
Trumbull,  Oliver  Wolcott,  Jr.,  Ephraim  Root,  William  Moseley,  and  Enoch  Per- 
kins, all  of  Hartford  ;  John  Williams  and  Thomas  Chester,  Wethersfield  ;  Wil- 
liam Judd,  Farmington  ;  Roger  Newberry  and  Alexander  Wolcott,  Windsor ; 
Jonathan  Brace,  Glastonbury ;  Gideon  Granger,  Suffield  ;  Benjamin  Farnham, 
Simsbury. 

Brief  notices  have  been  given,  either  in  this  or  other  divisions  of 
this  article,  of  all  whose  names  are  in  the  list  above  quoted,  excepting 
Wolcott,  Moseley,  Williams,  and  Chester. 

Oliver  Wolcott,  Jr.,  a  native  of  Litchfield,  was  not  in  Hartford  after 
1789;  how  much  earlier  we  cannot  say.  At  that  date  he  was  thirty-nine 
years  of  age.  He  became  Auditor,  then  Secretary  of  the  United  States 
Treasury,  Judge  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  President  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1818,  and  Governor  of  the  State.  Moseley 
remained  in  practice  in  Hartford  until  1823.  "  Squire  "  John  Williams, 
as  he  was  usually  called,  was  the  oldest  son  of  the  noted  patriot,  Ezekiel 
Williams.  He  was  remarkable  for  personal  beauty  and  courtliness  of 
manners.  Though  his  name  is  carried  on  the  list  of  attorneys  until 
1813,  his  circumstances  were  such  that  he  was  not  compelled  to  labor 
in  his  profession,  and  he  was  never  active  in  the  courts  of  law. 

Thomas  Chester,  member  of  a  family  noted  for  its  gentlemen  in 
the  best  sense  of  the  word,  was,  after  1796,  almost  wholly  occupied  as 
Clerk  of  the  Courts. 

In  the  decade  from  1790  to  1800  the  "  Connecticut  Register"  adds 
twenty-two  names  to  its  list  of  "  Practising  Attorneys.  " 

Timothy  Pitkin,  Jr.,  of  Farmington,  beginning  in  1790,  practised 
law  in  that  town  until  1836.  He  represented  this  district  in  Congress, 
and  was  five  times  Speaker  of  the  Connecticut  House  of  Representa- 
tives. He  was  perhaps  the  most  noted  political  writer  of  his  day ;  the 
author  of  two  volumes  on  the  Political  History  of  the  United  States, 
and  a  volume  on  the  Statistical  History  of  the  same. 

Daniel  W.  Lewis,  of  Farmington,  was  an  attorney  there,  1791-1792, 
when  he  removed  to  Litchfield  (?).  William  Kibbe  was  in  Enfield,  1792- 
1800  ;  John  Lathrop,  in  Hartford,  1793-1794.  Hezekiah  Bissell,  Jr., 
Windsor  and  Hartford,  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  was  in  practice  from 
1793  to  1802.  One  of  the  same  name  was  practising  in  Windham  as  early 
at  least  as  1786.  Walter  Edwards,  Sr.,  of  Hartford,  son  of  Rev.  Jonathan 
Edwards,  was  an  attorney  there,  1796-1797.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Captain  Moses  Tryon,  United  States  Navy,  of  Wethersfield,  and 
retired  from  practice.     Two  of  his  sons  became  lawyers  in  Xew  York. 


12G  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

Elkanah  Smith,  of  Berlin  ;  David  Parmelee  and  Zephaniah  H.  Smith, 
both  of  Glastonbury  ;  and  Roger  Whittlesey,  of  Southington,  all  first  ap- 
pear as  attorneys  in  179(3.  Parmelee  disappears  after  1796,  Elkanah 
Smith  after  1801,  while  Zephaniah  H.  Smith  and  Whittlesey  practised 
in  their  townships  until  1833  and  1844,  respectively.  Whittlesey  was 
a  native  of  Wethersfield,  Newington  Society.  John  Sargent,  of  Wind- 
sor, beginning  in  1797  or  earlier,  practised  law  there  until  1829.  His 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  General  Robert  Newberry,  Jr.  William  Brown, 
of  Hartford,  practised  from  1798  to  1804.  Jonathan  Walter  Edwards, 
a  native  of  New  Haven,  grandson  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  great 
theologian,  and  son  of  President  Jonathan  Edwards,  Jr.,  practised  in 
Hartford  from  1799  until  about  the  time  of  his  death  in  1831  ;  a 
brilliant  lawyer. 

In  the  next  decade,  1800  to  1810,  the  Hartford  Bar  was  increased 
by  the  astonishing  number  of  sixty  members,  at  least.  One  of  these, 
Thomas  Scott  Williams,  an  attorney  from  1805,  has  been  mentioned 
elsewhere.  Of  the  rest  we  can  only  mention  the  names  and  places  of 
residence,  while  in  practice,  in  most  instances.  Allen  Mather  and 
William  D.  How  were  in  Hartford,  1800-1802  ;  Timothy  Button,  Sims- 
burv,  1800-1801 ;  William  Gay,  Suffield,  1800-1843,  forty-three  years  ; 
David  Bissell,  Jr.,  East  Windsor  and  Hartford,  1800-1813  ;  Thomas 
Day,  Hartford,  1800-1809. 

Mr.  Day  rendered  so  many  and  so  valuable  services  to  the  profession, 
and  to  the  public  in  general,  that  he  is  entitled  to  special  mention.  He 
was  the  principal  member  of  the  committee  which  revised  the  Statutes 
in  1808, —  the  best  edition  we  have  ever  had.  His  summary  of  the 
various  revisions  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  history  ;  and  so  is  his 
history  of  the  Courts  of  the  State,  prefixed  to  Vol.  I.  of  the  Con- 
necticut Reports.  He  was  for  fifty  years  the  Reporter  of  the  cases 
adjudicated  in  the  highest  court  of  the  State.  He  was  Chief  Judge  of 
the  County  Court,  and  many  years  Secretary  of  State  for  Connecticut. 

Samuel  Woodruff,  Jr.,  born  in  1760,  having  first  practised  law  in 
Wallingford,  returned  to  his  native  town  (Southington)  in  1802,  where 
he  practised  until  1810;  thence  he  went  to  (4  ran  by,  and  while  there 
became  Judge  of  the  County  Court.  He  removed  to  Windsor  about 
1827,  and  practised  there  about  three  years.  He  went  on  a  mission  of 
charity  to  Greece,  and  on  his  return  published  a  volume  entitled  "  A 
Tour  to  Greece,  Malta,  and  Asia  Minor"  :  Hartford,  1832. 

Seth  Parsons  practised  in  Suffield  forty-four  years,  beginning  in 
1800  ;  William  Bradley,  in  Granby  and  Hartford,  1802-1811.  Walter 
Mitchell,  Wethersfield*  and  Hartford,  a  son  of  Chief  Judge  Stephen 
Mix  Mitchell,  and  Chief  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  practised  law, 
1803-1849  ;  Thomas  Huntington,  Jr.,  in  Hartford,  1803-1838 ;  John 
Hooker  (son  of  Rev.  John?),  Farmington,  1803;  Thomas  Holcomb, 
Granby,  1803-1825  ;  James  McCooley,  Granby;  1803  ;  Andrew  D.  Hill- 
ver,  Simsburv,  1803-1816;  Elijah  Adams,  Hartford,  1804;  Daniel 
Dunbar,  Berlin,  1804-1841 ;  Joseph  L.  Smith,  Berlin,  1804-1805,  re- 
moved to  Florida,  and  became  its  territorial  governor ;  Calvin  Butler, 
Bristol,  1804-1806;  Hezekiah  Flagg,  East  Hartford  and  Hartford, 
1804-1809 ;  Henry  Terry,  Enfield,  1804-1828,  and  was  Judge  of  the 
County  Court ;  Samuel  Cowles,  Farmington  and  Hartford,  1804-1818  ; 
William  Arms.  Simsburv,  1804;   Roger  Newberry,  3d,  Windsor,  1804- 


'7>~^^^>^/'   <^L^7 


... 


THE   BENCH   AND   THE   BAR.  127 

1807  ;  Thomas  Scott  Williams,  Wethersfield  and  Hartford  (noticed 
elsewhere),  1805-1826;  Isaac  Perkins,  Hartford,  1805-1840;  Aaron 
M.  Church,  Hartford,  1805-1811 ;  Joseph  Trumbull,  Hartford,  1805- 
1849  —  must  be  added  here. 

Mr.  Trumbull  was  a  grandson  of  Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Sr. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  in  Windham  County,  in  1803 ;  practised  at 
first  in  Ohio  ;  was  president  of  the  Hartford  Bank  for  eleven  years  ;  sat 
two  terms  as  a  representative  to  Congress,  and  was  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut 1849-1850. 

Ebenezer  Grander  appears  as  a  lawyer,  in  Hartford,  in  1805-1806  ; 
John  Wales,  1805-1809 ;  Stedman  Adams,  1805-1809 ;  Seth  Terry, 
1805-1865.  Mr.  Terry  was  a  native  of  Enfield,  and  member  of  a  family 
noted  for  its  achievements  in  civil  and  military  affairs ;  was  a  law  stu- 
dent of  General  Nathaniel  Terry.  He  was  more  than  sixty  years  an 
active  practitioner,  mostly  as  an  office  lawyer.  He  was  noted  for  his 
strict  integrity  and  piety.  Samuel  Putnam  Waldo  was  a  lawyer  at  East 
Windsor,  1805-1816.  He  was  the  author  of  several  volumes,  including 
a  "  Life  of  President  Jackson,"  and  the  "  Tour  of  President  Monroe  " 
through  the  United  States ;  and  was  the  compiler  of  "  Robbins'  Jour- 
nal." With  these  were  Samuel  Jones,  Jr.,  Glastonbury,  1805-1809; 
Grove  Griswold,  Granby  and  Windsor,  1805-1840. 

Elisha  Phelps,  a  member  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  families 
of  the  colony  and  State,  practised  law  at  Simsbury,  his  native  place, 
and  in  Hartford,  1805-1847.  He  was  eminent  in  his  profession,  and 
served  three  terms  as  a  representative  to  Congress.  He  was  also  Judge 
of  the  County  Court. 

Samuel  Henry  Woodruff,  a  native  of  Sonthington,  practised  there, 
1805-1829  ;  in  Granby,  1830-1848  ;  in  Tariffville,  1849-1859.  He  was 
a  lawyer  of  rare  gifts  for  his  profession,  but  his  habits  of  dissipation  pre- 
vented his  attaining  to  a  high  eminence. 

Joseph  H.  Russell  was  in  Windsor,  1805-1825.  Simeon  Abbe  was  an 
attorney,  in  Enfield,  in  1806 ;  Jared  Scarborough,  in  Hartford,  1807 ; 
Solomon  Smith,  in  Hartford,  1807-1809 ;  Pliny  Wight,  in  East  Hart- 
ford, 1807-1812. 

William  Dixon,  a  native  of  Enfield,  and  a  lawyer  there,  1807-1825, 
was  of  high  rank  in  his  profession,  but  was  noted  for  some  eccentrici- 
ties of  character.  He  was  the  father  of  the  late  United  States  Senator, 
James  Dixon.  Lemuel  Whitman  had  his  law-office  in  Farmington,  his 
native  place,  1807-1841.  He  held  many  offices,  including  that  of  Judge 
of  the  County  Court  and  Representative  to  Congress.  General  Nathan 
Johnson,  of  Hartford,  was  in  practice  there,  1808-1852. 

Lauren  (or  Loren  ?)  Barnes  was  an  attorney  in  Bristol,  1808-1809 ; 
Sherman  Everest,  Canton  and  East  Windsor,  1808-1816  ;  Ichabod  Lord 
Skinner,  Hartford,  1809-1816;  Jonathan  Law,  Hartford,  1809-1820; 
Godfrev  Scarborough,  Suffield  and  East  Windsor,  1809-1821 ;  John  M. 
Gannett,  Hartford,  1810-1825  ;  Sheldon  Wales  Candee,  Hartford,  1810- 
1820.  He  was  a  native  of  Oxford,  his  wife  being  a  daughter  of  Jesse 
Root.  He  died  at  Demarara,  Guiana,  in  1821.  Charles  Moseley  prac- 
tised in  Hartford,  1810-1814;  Shubael  F.  Griswold,  Hartford,  1810- 
1820  ;  Samuel  Root,  Hartford,  1810-1817  ;  Martin  Welles,  at  Farming- 
ton,  1811-1813,  and  at  Hartford,  1850-1863.  Mr.  Welles  was  a  son 
of  General  Roger  Welles,  Sr.,  of  Wethersfield,   Newington   Society. 


128  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Admitted  to  the  Bar  in  1810,  lie  practised,  after  1813,  at  Newburgh,  New 
York,  and  in  New  York  City,  until  1820,  when  he  removed  to  Wethers- 
field,  and  followed  farming  there  until  1850.  He  was  one  of  the  fore- 
most lawyers  and  special  pleaders  of  his  time,  was  several  times  Speaker 
of  the  lower  house  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  was  Chief  Judge  of 
the  County  Court. 

Between  1810  and  1820  the  members  added  to  the  Bar  were  thirty- 
seven  or  more ;  somewhat  more  than  half  as  many  as  in  the  next  pre- 
vious decade,  when  the  population  was  less.  Three  of  these,  Judges 
William  Wolcott  Ellsworth  and  John  Thomson  Peters,  and  State's  At- 
torney Isaac  Toucey,  have  been  noticed  elsewhere. 

Guy  Gaylord  was  a  practising  attorney  in  East  Windsor,  1811- 
1813 ;  and  with  him  was  Charles  Reynolds  during  the  same  period. 
Samuel  Pettis  practised  at  Wethersfield,  1811-1815,  when,  as  I  suppose, 
he  removed  to  Ohio.  Noah  A.  Phelps,  of  Simsbury,had  his  law-office  in 
Hartford,  1812-1820,  when  he  retired  from  the  profession  and  became 
Sheriff  of  the  county  ;  an  office  which  he  held  for  some  years.  He  was 
also  Secretary  of  State.  He  was  a  man  of  extensive  general  informa- 
tion, author  of  "A  History  of  Simsbury,  Granby  and  Canton,"  etc. 

Thomas  S.  Seymour,  of  Hartford,  had  a  law  office  there  one  year, 
1812.  Thomas  S.  Sill  was  also  there  as  an  attorney,  1812-1813.  1 
suppose  him  to  have  been  a  native  of  Windsor,  and  to  have  removed  to 
Erie,  Pennsylvania,  and  to  have  represented  that  district  in  Congress. 

Lorrain  T.  Pease  practised  in  Enfield  (of  which  place  he  was  a 
native),  1812-1838,  and  was  Judge  of  the  County  Court.  George 
Plummer  was  in  Glastonbury,  1812-1813  ;  James  H.  Smith,  in  Granby 
and  Canton,  1812-1832  ;  Silas  Higlev,in  Granby,  more  than  forty  years, 
1812-1853;  Daniel  Miller,  Hartford,  1813-1816  ;  Elizur  Goodrich,  Jr., 
1813-1821.  He  was  the  fourth  in  the  line  of  descent  from  the  Rev. 
Elizur  Goodrich,  of  Wethersfield  and  Durham,  all  bearing  the  same 
name.  Ralph  Welles,  of  Hartford,  had  an  office  there,  1813-1815 ; 
Ralph  R.  Phelps  had  his  office  in  East  Hartford,  1814-1823,  then  in 
Manchester  until  1874,  —  sixty  years  a  practitioner. 

Sidney  A.  Grant,  East  Windsor ;  Samuel  G.  Strong,  Glastonbury ; 
and  Frederick  W.  Jewett,  Granby,  all  appear  to  have  practised  in  those 
towns  respectively,  from  1814  until  1815,  when  they  all  disappear. 

Ethan  Allen  Andrews,  a  native  of  New  Britain,  son  of  Levi  and 
Chloe  (Welles)  Andrews,  both  of  Wethersfield,  Newington  Society, 
began  practising  law  in  Berlin  in  1814  ;  perhaps  two  years  earlier.  He 
is  carried  on  the  list  of  attorneys  there  until  1824,  but  he  was  part 
of  this  time  an  instructor  in  select  schools,  and  author  of  Andrews's 
Latin-English  Lexicon. 

Asher  Robbins  practised  law  in  Wethersfield,  his  native  place,  1814- 
1832.  He  was  a  public-spirited  citizen,  and  having  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing enterprises,  became  financially  wrecked.  He  never  resumed 
his  practice.  Henry  L.  (Loomis  ?)  Ellsworth,  son  of  Chief  Justice  Oliver 
Ellsworth,  and  twin-brother  of  Governor  William  Wolcott  Ellsworth, 
practised  in  Windsor,  1814-183(3.  President  Jackson  appointed  him 
Commissioner  of  the  Indian  tribes  south  and  west  of  Arkansas.  He  was 
also  United  States  Commissioner  of  Patents  for  ten  years.  Removing 
to  Indiana,  he  there  became  the  largest  farmer  in  that  State,  if  not  in 
all  the  West.     Died  at  Fair  Haven,  in  1858. 


THE   BENCH   AND  THE   BAR.  129 

Alfred  Cowles,  of  Farmington,  practised  there,  1815-1821.  John 
Milton  Niles,  born  in  Windsor,  was  an  attorney  in  Suffield  and  Hartford 
for  some  years,  beginning  in  1815.  He  was  more  active  in  politics  and 
in  literary  work  than  in  his  profession.  A  sketch  of  his  life  is  given 
elsewhere. 

George  Wyllys,  member  of  an  old  and  prominent  family  of  Hart- 
ford, was  an  attorney  there  1816-1822.  Henry  W.  Huntington, 
member  of  another  distinguished  family,  had  his  office  there  one  year 
only,  1816.  John  Mitchell,  in  Bristol,  1816,  probably  removed  to  Penn- 
sylvania. Algernon  S.  Grant  and  Ebenezer  Lane  were  attorneys  in 
East  Windsor,  1816-1818,  and  1816-1817  respectively.  George  Merrick 
practised  in  Glastonbury  (South)  from  1816  until  the  year  of  his 
death,  1879.  He  was  Judge  of  the  County  Court.  Elijah  Keach,  of 
Wethersfield,  Newington  Society,  practised  there  thirty  years  or  more, 
beginning  in  1816.  He  was  an  eccentric  character,  always  ready  with 
a  flaming  Democratic  speech.  Alfred  Smith,  1818-1850,  a  Hartford 
lawyer,  and  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  was  learned  in  his  profession, 
and  one  of  the  best  legal  draughtsmen  the  Bar  ever  had.  He  had  few 
superiors  as  a  member  of  the  legislature.  Oliver  Ellsworth  Williams, 
a  son  of  Ezekiel  Williams,  the  Wethersfield  Revolutionary  patriot, 
was  in  practice  in  Hartford,  1819-1870,  if  the  "  Connecticut  Register" 
be  correct ;  but  he  certainly  was  not  in  active  practice  for  ten  years 
or  more  prior  to  the  latter  date.  John  Watson,  3d,  was  an  East  Wind- 
sor attorney  some  five  years,  beginning  in  1820  or  earlier.  Charles 
Shepard  practised  in  Suffield,  1820-1829  ;  then  in  Hartford,  1830-1850. 

The  writer  is  not  aware  that  any  of  those  admitted  to  the  Bar  before 
1821  are  living.  From  this  date  to  1830,  inclusive,  the  number  of 
added  members  was  about  thirty-seven. 

One  of  these,  Thomas  C.  Perkins,  who  first  appears  in  1821,  has 
been  noticed.  Probably  none  of  those  who  became  attorneys  before 
1831  are  living. 

Samuel  Howard  Huntington,  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  son  of 
Hezekiah,  is  borne  on  the  list  of  Hartford  lawyers,  1821-1854 ;  Jared 
Griswold,  at  Simsbury,  Farmington,  and  Hartford,  1822-1835  ;  Francis 
Parsons,  at  Hartford,  1822-1861.  He  was  born  at  Amherst,  Mass.,  and 
was  a  nephew  of  Chief  Justice  Thomas  Scott  Williams,  in  whose  office  he 
was  a  student.  He  was  a  model  lawyer,  and  at  one  time  Judge  of  the 
County  Court. 

Ichabod  Bulkeley  had  an  office  in  Hartford  one  vear,  1822 ;  George 
W.  Griswold.  in  East  Hartford,  1822-1826,  in  Manchester,  1827-1855. 
Hiram  R.  Pettibone.  in  Granbv,  1822-1833  ;  William  C.  Gay,  Suffield, 
1822-1831 ;  Apollos  D.  Bates/Windsor,  1822-1824. 

Ira  E.  Smith  practised  in  Berlin,  1823-1849 ;  was  some  time  Chief 
Judge  of  the  County  Court.  Romeo  Lowrey,  born  in  Plainville,  was  a 
lawyer  in  Southington,  1822-1855,  during  part  of  which  time  he  pre- 
sided over  the  County  Court.  Horace  H.  Sill  was  in  Windsor,  1823- 
1845 ;  John  Gardner  Calkins  Brainard,  the  poet,  1824-1828. 

Jonathan  Edwards,  son  of  Walter,  had  his  office  in  Hartford, 
1824-1832.  He  removed  to  Troy,  New  York,  of  which  city  he  became 
mayor. 

William  Barnes  practised  in  East  Windsor,  at  Warehouse  Point, 
1825-1873 ;  Simeon  F.  Dixon,  in  Enfield   and   Hartford,  1825-1830  ; 


130  MEMORIAL    HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Horace  Foote,in  Marlborough,  the  first  attorney  from  that  township,  in 
1825  ;  Samuel  H.  Parsons,  in  Hartford,  1826-1849  ;  William  H.  Perkins, 
Windsor,  1826-1828 ;  Nathan  Cooley,  Hartford,  1827-1828 ;  Alfred  Terry 
(a  native  of  Hartford  and  a  son  of  General  Nathaniel),  Hartford,  1827- 
1832.  He  was  the  father  of  Major-General  Alfred  H.  Terry , who  practised 
in  New  Haven  ;  now  in  the  United  States  Army. 

Benjamin  L.  Ray  nor  had  a  law  office  in  Hartford,  1827-1832 ;  soon 
after  which,  as  I  suppose,  he  removed  to  Boston.  He  was  the  author 
of  a  "  Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson,"  published  in  Wethersfield.  Selah  B. 
•Treat,  in  East  Windsor,  1827-1831,  became  a  clergyman  and  secretary  of 
the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  residing  in  Boston.  He  was  a  frequent  contributor  to 
periodical  publications.    Frederick  W.  Jewett,  in  Simsbury,  1827-1833. 

Thomas  R.  Holt  was  a  Windsor  attorney,  1827-1831 ;  Enoch  T.  Par- 
sons, in  Hartford,  1828-1830  ;  Norman  Merriam,  Hartford,  1828-1830  ; 
William  M.  Holland,  Hartford,  1829-1832 ;  Hugh  Peters,  Hartford,  1829. 
Mr.  Peters  was  a  son  of  Judge  John  Thompson  Peters.  He  inclined  to 
poetry,  and  wrote  some  pieces  which  were  published.  He  was  drowned, 
when  thirty  years  of  age,  in  1832,  near  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Seth  P.  Beers 
was  in  Hartford,  1830-1832  ;  but  most  of  his  professional  life  was  spent 
in  Litchfield  County,  where  he  became  a  prominent  State  official.  Asa 
Child  was  in  Hartford,  1830-1832.  He  removed  to  Norwich.  William 
Hungerford  was  a  Hartford  lawyer  from  1830  until  a  few  years  before 
his  death,  1873.  He  was  born  in  East  Haddam.  A  student  of  Hon. 
Matthew  Griswold  and  Governor  Roger  Griswold,  at  Lyme,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar  in  1812.  He  practised  in  his  native  town  until  1829, 
when  he  removed  to  Hartford,  where  he  became  the  most  learned  lawyer 
in  the  State.  He  is  said  to  have  read  Blackstone's  Commentaries  through 
thirty  times,  and  to  have  delighted  in  that  dryest  and  most  intricate  of 
all  legal  works,  "  Fearne  on  Contingent  Remainders."  He  was  largely 
instrumental,  through  his  briefs  in  the  Supreme  Court,  in  settling  the 
law  on  important  points  involved.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1818.  Probably  the  history  of  the  profession  con- 
tains no  individual  lawyer  of  our  State  who  reached  greater  attainments 
in  learning. 

Charles  M.  Emerson  practised  in  Hartford,  1830-1838  ;  Sheldon 
Moore,  in  Southington  and  Berlin  during  the  same  period  ;  Erastus 
Smith,  first  in  Windsor,  then  in  Hartford,  1830  to  1878,  the  year  of  his 
death.  In  his  early  life  he  was  a  school-teacher.  He  was  noted  for  his 
wit  and  his  inattention  to  his  personal  appearance.  He  often  held  Court 
as  a  United  States  Commissioner. 

In  the  next  decade,  1831  to  1840,  only  thirty  new  members  appear 
in  the  list  of  practising  attorneys.  Five  of  these,  perhaps  more,  are 
living.  These  are  James  H.  Holcomb,  William  R.  Cone,  Henry  A. 
Mitchell,  Henry  Nash,  and  Francis  Fellowcs. 

Isaac  E.  Crary,  born  in  Preston,  was  "an  attorney  in  Hartford, 
1831-1832.  He  removed  to  Michigan,  where  he  became  a  major-general 
of  militia,  representative  to  Congress,  etc.  Hiram  Hunt  was  in  Farm- 
ington,  1831 ;  perhaps  he  removed  to  New  York.  Anson  Bates  was  in 
Granby  and  East  Granby,  1831-1869.  Chauncey  P.  Holcomb  was  a  law- 
yer in  Granby,  of  which  place  he  was  a  native,  in  1831.  He  removed 
thence  to  Philadelphia,  then  to  Newcastle,  Delaware,  where  he  died 
about  1850. 


^^ 


^^n    <r6?ttw 


THE   BENCH   AND   THE   BAR.  131 

Charles  Chapman,  mentioned  elsewhere,  was  in  Hartford,  1832-1869  ; 
the  latter  being  the  date  of  his  death.  He  was  a  most  successful  crimi- 
nal lawyer  within  and  without  this  State,  and  a  famous  wit.  John  B. 
Watson  was  in  Hartford,  1832-1838;  then  in  East  Hartford,  1839. 
Philo  A.  Goodwin  was  a  Hartford  lawyer,  1833-1840.  Edmond  Holcomb 
practised  in  Granbv,  1833-1872  ;  Hector  F.  Phelps,  in  Simsbury,  1833- 
1818.  Richard  G.  Drake  —  in  Windsor,  1833-1838,  in  Hartford,  1839- 
1858  —  was  associated  with  Charles  Chapman.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
active  grand-jurors  in  Hartford.  A.  A.  Loomis  practised  in  Hartford, 
1834-1837.  James  H.  Holcomb,  a  native  of  Granby,  practised  in  Hart- 
ford from  1834  until  his  removal  to  Nice,  France,  some  years  ago,  where 
he  now  resides.  William  R.  Cone,  a  native  of  East  Haddam,  was  asso- 
ciated with  Mr.  Hungerford,  in  Hartford,  from  1834  until  the  date  of 
Mr.  Hungerford's  death,  and  still  lives  in  Hartford,  president  of  the 
iEtna  National  Bank  and  prominent  in  affairs  in  the  city.  Henry 
Nash,  now  of  New  Britain,  has  practised  in  Hartford,  Berlin,  and  New 
Britain,  successively.  Royal  R.  Hinman,  a  native  of  Southington,  once 
Secretary  of  State,  was  a  Hartford  attorney  in  1849.  He  also  practised 
in  Southington,  1833-1834.  Henry  R.  Buckland  practised  in  Windsor, 
1834-1835. 

Edward  Goodman  practised  in  Hartford  from  1835  until  his  death 
in  1882;  James  Raymond  in  Hartford,  1835.  Benning  Mann  came 
from  Stafford  to  Hartford,  where  he  was  an  attorney,  1835-1863.  As 
a  trial-justice,  many  criminals  were  prosecuted  before  him.  M.  A. 
Nickerson  practised  in  Berlin,  1835-1836;  Henry  A.  Mitchell  (men- 
tioned elsewhere),  in  Hartford  and  Bristol  since  1836.  Frank  G.  Mer- 
riman,  in  Hartford,  1837-1839,  removed  to  Galveston,  Texas,  where  he 
may  be  still  living.  .  He  married  a  Mexican  lady  for  his  second  wife, 
and  became  a  judge,  besides  holding  other  offices. 

James  Dixon,  a  native  of  Enfield,  practised  in  Hartford,  1837-1847, 
when  he  was  elected  a  representative  to  Congress.  After  this  he  re- 
sumed practice,  1850-1857,  when  he  became  United  States  Senator, 
and  so  remained  until  1869.  He  did  not  again  resume  practice  in  his 
profession.  He  was  a  very  adroit  debater,  and  was  accomplished  in 
literature.  Henry  Perkins  practised  in  Hartford,  1838-1862  ;  Giles 
Pettibone,  in  Hartford,  1838-1841,  then  in  Simsbury  until  1852.  Fran- 
cis Fellowes,  born  in  Montville,  came  to  Hartford  about  1838,  where  he 
opened  a  law  office,  and  from  that  date  has  been  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent and  learned  in  his  profession.  He  is  a  scholar  in  the  classics  and 
modern  languages,  and  has  recently  published  a  manual  of  Astronomy. 
William  N.  Matson  began  practice  in  Hartford  about  1838.  He  became 
Judge  of  Probate,  and  was  a  reporter  of  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  He  ceased  practice  some  years  before  his  death,  which  was  in 
1876.  William  M.  Durand  practised  in  Hartford,  1839-1841.  Thomas 
H.  Seymour's  name  was  borne  on  the  list  of  Hartford  attorneys  many 
years,  beginning  in  1839.  He  was  never,  however,  active  as  a  lawyer. 
He  was  noted  for  his  courtesy,  and  was  admired  and  loved  by  a  great 
many  friends.  He  was  a  colonel,  by  brevet,  in  the  Mexican  War,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State,  Minister  to  Russia,  etc.     He  died  in  1868. 

From  1840  to  1849,  inclusive,  the  new  members  of  the  Bar  numbered 
about  thirty-six.     Of  this  number  probably  ten  or  twelve  are  living. 

Chauncey  Howard,  who  came  from  Coventry  to    Hartford   about 


132  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

1840,  was  many  years  Clerk  of  Courts,  and  has  been  Comptroller  of  the 
State.  He  has  retired  from  the  profession.  A.  R.  Park  had  his  office 
in  Hartford,  1840-1841 ;  Silas  Gridlev,  in  Bristol,  1840-1846  ;  Charles 
H.  Tuthill,  Hartford,  1841-1847  ;  John  Brocklesby,  Jr.,  Hartford,  1842. 
He  has  since  been  a  professor  and  acting  president  of  Trinity  College. 
He  is  an  author  of  several  works  relating  to  physics,  astronomy,  etc.  He 
came  from  England  when  about  ten  years  of  age.  James  C.  Walkley, 
of  Haddam,  began  practice  in  Hartford  in  1842,  but  is  now  in  private 
life.  Thomas  M.  Day  (son  of  Thomas,  elsewhere  noticed)  an  attorney 
in  Hartford  since  1841,  has  been  long  out  of  practice.  He  was  for  some 
years  an  editor  of  the  "  Courant."  John  Chenevard  Comstock,of  Hart- 
ford, a  son  of  John  Lee  Comstock,  the  noted  author  of  works  on  natural 
history  and  physics,  was  a  Hartford  lawyer  from  1842  until  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War,  when  he  entered  the  service  as  a  commissioned  officer. 
He  has  since  died.  Thomas  S.  Williams,  2d,  appears  in  Hartford,  1842, 
the  year  of  his  death. 

Aholiab  Johnson,  who  began  in  Enfield,  in  1842,  is  still  living.  John 
Hooker,  of  Farmington,  practised  there,  1842-1851,  since  which  time 
he  has  been  a  Hartford  lawyer.  He  has  been  reporter  of  decisions  in 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  since  1858.  Frederick  M.  Walker  was 
in  Enfield,  1842-1844  ;  Seymour  N.  Case,  in  Hartford,  1843,  until  his 
death  in  1872  ;  Governor  Richard  Dudley  Hubbard  (noticed  elsewhere), 
in  Hartford,  1843-1884;  William  D.  Ely,  in  Hartford,  1844-1856; 
Samuel  E.  Hartwell,  Suffield,  1844-1845  ;  Henry  T.  Welles,  Hartford, 
1845-1846. 

Charles  De  Wolf  Brownell,  the  artist,  is  registered  as  a  Hartford 
lawyer,  1845-1848  ;  Henry  Howard  Brownell,  Hartford,  1845-1848 ;  East 
Hartford,  1851.  He  was  Admiral  Farragut's  Secretary,  and  the  author 
of  several  stirring  "  War  Lyrics,"  published  during  the  late  Civil  War. 
Elihu  Spencer  practised  in  Hartford,  1846  ;  Horace  Cornwall,  Hartford, 
1846-1850  ;  East  Hartford,  1851,  whence  he  returned  to  Hartford. 

Lucius  F.  Robinson  practised  in  Hartford  from  1846  until  his  death 
in  1861.  He  ranked  very  high  in  his  profession,  though  cut  off  before 
he  had  reached  his  prime.  His  wife  was  the  only  daughter  of  Governor 
Joseph  Trumbull.  The  world  is  indebted  to  him  for  some  fine  literary 
productions,  among  which  are  his  notes  and  translations  from  the  Greek, 
Latin,  and  Hebrew  in  an  edition  of  Mather's  Magnalia.  The  Hon.  Henry 
C.  Robinson  is  his  brother.  Edwin  0.  Goodwin  was  a  Hartford  lawyer 
in  1846  ;  in  Bristol,  1849-1860.  Charles  K.  Atwood,  of  Newington,  was 
in  Hartford,  1847 ;  Eliphalet  Adams  Bulkeley,of  Colchester,  1847-1871, 
the  latter  year  being  the  date  of  his  death.  He  had  practised  in  East 
Haddam  before  coming  to  Hartford.  He  was  the  first  judge  of  the 
Hartford  Police  Court.  He  had  retired  from  practice,  long  before  his 
death,  to  become  president  of  the  JEtna  Life  Insurance  Company. 
Andrew  Miller  was  in  Hartford,  1847.  Dwight  W.  Pardee,  mentioned 
elsewhere,  began  practice  in  Hartford  in  1847.  Hubert  F.  North  was 
an  attorney  in  Berlin,  1847-1850  ;  R.  A.  Erving  was  in  Hartford,  1848- 
1854,  and  was  lost  in  the  steamer  "  Pacific;"  A.  R.  Wadsworth  was  in 
Farmington,  1848-1849.  Calvin  W.  Phileo  was  in  Suffield,  1848-1853  ; 
in  Hartford,  1854-1858.  He  was  the  author  of  "  Twice  Married,"  and 
other  published  works.  He  died  young.  Lewis  J.  Dudley  was  in  Hart- 
ford one  year,  1849.     Samuel  P.  Newell  has  practised  in  Bristol,  his 


?j-u^^fl^oh^ , 


THE  BENCH  AND   THE   BAR.  133 

native  town,  since  1849;  Thomas  Cowles,  in  Farmington,  where  he  was 
born,  1849-1884,  the  year  of  his  death ;  Alfred  J.  Works,  in  Thomp- 
sonville,  1849-1850;  Jeffrey  0.  Phelps,  Si\,  of  whom  mention  is  made 
elsewhere,  in  Simsbury,  from  1849  until  his  decease  about  1877.  He 
was  admitted  late  in  life,  upon  an  examination ;  a  wholly  self-taught 
student. 

From  1850  to  1859,  inclusive,  there  were  nearly,  if  not  quite,  seventy 
members  added  to  the  Hartford  County  Bar.  Probably  more  than  one 
fifth  have  since  died.  Among  those  who  have  passed  away  are :  Colo- 
nel Henry  Champion  Deming,  noted  as  a  scholar  and  orator,  of  whom 
a  sketch  appears  elsewhere  ;  Henry  Sherman,  a  native  of  Albany, 
who  came  to  Manchester  from  New  York  City  about  1850,  thence  to 
Hartford,  1852,  where  he  remained  until  about  1863  ;  author  of  a 
Digest  of  the  Law  of  Marine  Insurance  and  of  a  Governmental  His- 
tory of  the  United  States  ;  Heman  Humphrey  Barbour,  a  native  of 
Canton,  a  successful  lawyer,  and  judge  of  the  Hartford  Court  of  Pro- 
bate ;  Jerome  B.  Brown*  in  Hartford  ;  Goodwin  Collier  (died  1885), 
a  native  of  Hartford,  where,  while  a  resident  of  Connecticut,  he  prac- 
tised, was  possessed  of  a  large  amount  of  general  information,  and 
was  an  authority  in  musical  matters.  He  was  judge  of  the  police 
court.  Wait  N.  Hawley  was  in  Thompsonville  and  Hartford  ;  Seth  E. 
Case,  in  New  Britain ;  George  W.  (ridding,  in  Hartford  ;  died  young. 
John  C.  Palmer,  a  native  of  East  Haddam,  practised  a  short  time 
in  Hartford,  when  he  became  president  of  the  Sharps  Rifle  Manufac- 
turing Company.  Julius  L.  Strong,  a  native  of  Bolton,  and  student 
of  Judge  Martin  Welles,  and  died  in  1872,  while  a  member  of  the 
lower  house  of  Congress.1  Henry  Kirke  White  Welch,  a  native  of 
Mansfield  and  former  resident  of  Wethersfield,  though  dying  at  the 
age  of  forty-nine  years,  was  in  the  front  rank  in  his  profession. 

Some  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  and  lawyers  still  living,  who 
joined  or  were  admitted  during  the  decade  ending  in  1859, maybe  men- 
tioned here.  They  include :  the  Hon.  Charles  R.  Chapman,  now  post- 
master of  Hartford  ;  General  Joseph  Roswell  Hawley  ;  ex-Police-Judge 
George  S.  Gilman ;  ex-United  States  Senator  William  W.  Eaton  (born 
in  Tolland)  ;  Francis  Chambers,  from  Rocky  Hill ;  Samuel  Finley  Jones, 
from  Marlborough  ;  Frederick  B.  Perkins,  a  well-known  author  and 
magazine  writer,  now  of  San  Francisco ;  Judge  Nathaniel  Shipman,  of 
the  United  States  District  Court  for  Connecticut;  David  S.  Calhoun, 
now  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas ;  Walter  S.  Merrell,  of  South- 
ington,  ex-Judge  of  Probate  ;  Robert  E.  Day,  from  East  Haddam, 
now  president  of  the  Security  Company,  Hartford  ;  James  Nichols, 
ex-Judge  of  Probate  for  Hartford ;  ex-Judge  William  D.  Shipman, 
United  States  District  Court,  now  of  New  York  City ;  George  Griswold 
Sill,  ex-Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  State;  Zalmon  A.  Storrs,  once  judge 
of  the  County  Court  for  Tolland  County,  now  treasurer  of  the  Society 
for  Savings ;  Roger  Welles,  of  Newington,  and  historian  of  that  town- 
ship ;  Charles  H.  Briscoe,  of  Enfield,  ex-Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas 
Court ;  Charles  W.  Johnson,  son  of  General  Nathan  Johnson,  now  clerk 
of  the  Supreme  and  Superior  Courts;  Elisha  Johnson,  ex-Judge  of  the 

1  His  former  law-partner,  the  Hon.  John  R.  Buck,  of  this  city,  now  occupies  the  seat  in 
Congress. 


134  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

City  and  Police  Courts  ;  Henry  C.  Robinson,  who  was  twice  the  candi- 
date of  the  Republican  party  for  governor  of  Connecticut ;  Charles  J. 
Hoadly,  a  noted  historian,  and,  for  many  years  past,  State  Librarian ; 
Charles  E.  Perkins,  a  leading  lawyer,  president  of  the  Bar  Association  ; 
Charles  Whittlesey,  an  officer  in  the  late  Civil  War,  perhaps  deceased  ; 
Austin  Hart,  once  in  Farming-ton,  now  in  New  Britain ;  Major  John  C. 
Parsons,  son  of  the  late  Judge  Francis  Parsons  ;  John  Hurlburt  White, 
Judge  of  Probate  for  Hartford;  William  S.  Goslee,  the  historian  of 
Glastonbury. 

The  decade  ending  in  1869  witnessed  the  advent  of  about  eighty 
additional  members  of  this  Bar.  Probably  one  sixth,  or  more,  of  these 
have  died.  Many  are  in  parts  unknown  to  the  writer.  Among  the 
dead  are:  Captain  Charles  Edwin  Bulkeley,  son  of  the  late  Judge  Eli- 
phalet  A.  Bulkeley,  of  Hartford,  died  in  the  late  war  ;  Francis  Fellowes, 
Jr.,  who  served  in  the  late  war,  died  a  few  years  after  its  close  at  Hart- 
ford ;  Albert  W.  Drake,  who  was  first  lieutenant  of  Captain  Joseph  R. 
Hawley's  company,  organized  April  22,  1801 ;  Henry  L.  Miller,  a  judge 
of  the  City  Court ;  Ezra  Hall,  a  native  of  Marlborough,  a  State  Senator, 
and  president  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate ;  Monroe  E.  Merrill,  from  Bark- 
hnmsted,  Judge  of  the  Hartford  Police  Court.  Loren  Pinckney  Waldo, 
who  came  to  Hartford  from  Tolland,  1863,  was  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  upright  members  of  the  Bar.  He  was  honored  with  many  minor 
offices  ;  was  State's  attorney  for  Tolland  County,  Judge  of  Probate,  rep- 
resentative to  Congress,  Commissioner  of  Pensions  under  President 
Pierce,  twice  on  the  committee  for  the  revision  of  the  Statutes  of  Con- 
necticut, and  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court.  He  was  also  president  of 
the  Bar  Association  and  author  of  a  History  of  Tolland. 

George  Dennison  Prentice  and  William  Henry  Burleigh,  both  once 
residents  of  Hartford,  were  members  of  the  Bar.  But  they  were  more 
conspicuous  as  poets  and  journalists. 

In  the  last  sixteen  years  many  have  joined  the  ranks  of  the  legal 
fraternity,  some  of  whom  have  already  risen  to  positions  of  honor  and 
trust  or  have  become  prominent  in  their  chosen  profession.  Some  have 
passed  from  earth,  some  have  removed  to  other  places,  some  (a  very 
few)  have  been  expelled,  and  the  standard  of  qualifications  for  admis- 
sion is  higher  than  ever  before.  With  all  the  vacancies  that  have 
occurred,  the  ranks  are  still  over-full ;  and  we  cannot,  with  the  limited 
time  and  space  at  command,  even  mention  many  whose  names  we  would 
gladly  include  in  this  too  long-drawn  sketch  of  members  of  the  Hartford 
County  Bar. 


Note.  The  writer  is  indebted  to  the  Hoii.  Henry  C.  Robinson,  and  to  Charles  J.  Hoadly, 
Esq.,  for  valuable  suggestions  made  by  them  during  the  preparation  of  this  article.  It  is  to 
be  especially  observed  that,  owing  to  the  limited  space  of  this  paper,  no  attempt  is  made  to 
name  the  living  attorneys  admitted  to  the  bar  since  1859.  This  accounts  for  the  absence  of 
the  names  of  some  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  present  time. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  MEDICAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 
I. 

BY    W.  A.  M.  WAINWKIGHT,    M.D. 

THE  history  of  medicine  in  the  Connecticut  Colony,  for  a  hundred 
years  after  its  first  settlement,  is  meagre  enough.  During  this 
period  very  few  regularly  graduated  practitioners  of  the  old  country 
appear  to  have  been  attracted  by  the  "  opening  "  offered  to  them  in 
the  new.  For  instance,  Judd,  in  his  History  of  Hadley,  Mass.  says, 
that  from  the  year  1667  to  1730  there  was  no  physician  or  surgeon  in 
Northampton,  which  was  "  a  large  and  rich  town." 

Dr.  Samuel  A.  Green,  in  his  "  History  of  Medicine  in  Massachu- 
setts," is  authority  for  the  following  statement :  "  Harvard  College  was 
founded  in  the  year  1638  ;  and  during  the  period  from  this  time  till 
1750  there  were  but  nine  of  its  graduates  who  had  ever  received  a 
medical  degree." 

In  anticipation  of  their  exodus  to  this  country,  many  ministers 
studied  the  medical  art,  so  that  they  might  be  able  in  their  new  habita- 
tion to  care  for  the  bodies  as  well  as  the  souls  of  their  flocks.  Many 
of  them  were  able  physicians  ;  and  some,  after  a  time,  relinquished  their 
ministerial  duties,  and  confined  themselves  to  the  practice  of  medicine 
and  surgery  ;  being  licensed  as  regular  practitioners  by  the  General 
Court  of  the  colony.  The  "  goodwife,"  with  her  knowledge  of  "  sim- 
ples," and  the  horrible  compounds  of  bugs,  animal  secretions  and  ex- 
cretions, and  the  like,  which  were  in  common  use,  was  also  a  medical 
power,  and  held  her  own  in  the  practice  of  the  healing  art.  Each  of 
the  early  settlements  doubtless  had  one  or  more  "  old  women,"  whose 
services  were  usually  called  for  in  cases  of  sickness,  and  whose  opinions 
were  looked  up  to  and  relied  upon.  This  was  particularly  the  case  in 
childbirth,  as  for  many  years  the  practice  of  obstetrics  was  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  midwives.  In  the  early  years  of  the  colony,  all 
that  was  necessary  to  become  a  "  respectable  practitioner  "  of  medicine 
was  to  study,  or,  as  it  was  often  called,  "  to  ride,"  with  some  medical 
man  for  a  year  or  two,  seeing  his  patients,  and  getting  from  him  what 
medical  knowledge  he  was  able  to  impart.  Application  was  then  made 
to  the  General  Court  of  the  colony  for  a  license  to  "  practice  Physic 
and  Chirurgery."  If  the  application  was  indorsed  by  a  few  respectable 
names,  the  license  was  granted,  and  the  applicant  became  a  "  Doctor." 
There  were  many,  of  course,  who  practised  medicine  without  this  license, 
as  it  was  not  required  by  law.  Any  one,  after  "  riding  "  with  a  doctor, 
could  go  into  practice  as  soon  as  he  felt  able  to  ride  alone. 


136  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

The  earliest  medical  name  found  in  the  records  of  the  colony  is  that 
of  Dr.  Bray  (or  Bryan)  Rosseter,  who  was  the  first  physician,  and  one 
of  the  most  prominent  men  among  the  first  settlers  of  Windsor  in 
1036.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  by  the  General  Court  of  Connecti- 
cut shortly  after  his  arrival,  "  being  first  tried  and  approved  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Hooker,  Rev.  Mr.  Stone,  and  old  Mr.  Smith,  of  Wethersfield,  in  the 
face  of  said  Court." 

He  was  also  a  magistrate,  and  served  as  town  clerk  until  1652, 
about  which  time  he  moved  to  Guilford,  where  he  died  in  1672.  In 
January,  1655-6,  the  town  of  Hartford  granted  £10  "towaids  [the 
Kev.]  Mr.  Stone's  charge  of  Phissick  which  he  hath  taken  of  Mr.  Rosse- 
ter." The  next  year  Mr.  Stone  gave,  as  one  reason  of  his  proposed 
removal  from  Hartford,  that  "  we  have  no  Physician  at  Hartford  or 
near  at  hand,"  and  made  it  a  condition  of  his  remaining,  that  the  church 
should  engage  "  to  procure  some  able  phisitian  to  dwell  and  settle  here 
in  Hartford  before  the  next  October  (1657),  if  it  be  possible  that  such 
a  man  may  be  obtayned." 

Stiles,  in  his  History  of  Windsor,  says,  "The  first  post-mortem  ex- 
amination made  in  the  colony  of  Connecticut  was  made  by  Dr.  Rosse- 
ter." "  March  11th  1662-3.  The  Court  allows  unto  Mr.  Rosseter 
twenty  pounds  in  reference  to  opening  Kellies  child,  and  his  paynes  to 
visit  the  Dep.  Governor,  and  his  paynes  in  visiting  and  administering 
to  Mr.  Talcott." 

It  is  not  absolutely  certain  that  this  "  opening  Kellies  child  "  was 
not  some  ante-mortem  surgical  operation ;  but  if  it  was  post-mortem,  as 
is  most  probable,  it  was  the  first  autopsy  made  in  New  England,  of 
which  any  record  has  been  found,  antedating  by  a  dozen  years  the  one 
made  in  Boston  in  1674,  an  account  of  which  is  given  by  Dr.  Green  in 
his  "  History  of  Medicine  in  Massachusetts,"  and  said  by  him  to  have 
been  "  one  of  the  earliest  recorded  instances  of  a  post-mortem  examina- 
tion to  be  found  in  New  England." 

From  1636  to  1652  there  appears  to  have  been  but  one  other  regu- 
larly authorized  practitioner  of  medicine  in  the  colony.  This  was 
Dr.  Jasper  Gunn,  who  came  over  to  this  country  in  1635,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-nine.  In  May,  1636,  he  was  made  a  freeman  of  Massachusetts, 
and  settled  in  Roxburv.  He  removed  to  Milford,  and  afterward,  about 
1646,  to  Hartford.  The  inventory  of  Giles  Whiting,  April,  1656,  men- 
tions his  indebtedness  "  to  Jasper  Gunn  for  physic  and  visits  £2.10." 
In  May,  1657,  the  General  Court  of  Connecticut  freed  him  from  "  train- 
ing, watching,  and  warding  during  his  practice  of  Physic."  Soon  after 
this  he  returned  to  Milford,  where  he  died  in  1670.  In  the  Trinity  Col- 
lege Library  is  a  curious  old  Almanac  published  in  London  in  1652,  by 
Sir  George  Wharton,  which  belonged  to  Dr.  Jasper  Gunn.  It  is  in- 
terleaved, and  was  used  by  him  as  an  account-book,  and  on  its  pages 
are  charges  for  medical  services  and  drugs,  against  many  of  the  promi- 
nent citizens  of  Hartford  of  that  clay.  There  is  also  in  the  library  a 
book  which  belonged  to  Dr.  Rosseter.  It  is  a  large  vellum-bound  folio, 
a  Commentary  on  Hippocrates,  by  Vallesius,  published  in  Cologne  in 
1588.  On  the  titlepage  is  written,  "  Ex  dono  diffii  Hopkins,  Bray 
Rosseter  his  book." 

In  1652  Thomas  Lord  was  licensed  by  the  General  Court  to  practise 
physic  and  surgery  in  Hartford  and  the  neighboring  towns.     His  fees 


MEDICAL   HISTORY.  137 

were  as  follows  :  "  This  Court  doth  grant  that  he  shall  be  paid  by  the 
County  the  sum  of  fifteen  pounds  for  the  said  ensuing  year,  and  they 
do  declare  that  for  every  visit  or  journey  that  he  shall  take  or  make, 
being  sent  for  to  any  house  in  Hartford,  twelve  pence  is  reasonable ;  to 
any  house  in  Windsor,  five  shillings ;  to  any  house  in  Wethersfield, 
three  shillings  ;  to  any  house  in  Farmington,  six  shillings  ;  to  any  house 
in  Mattabeseck  [Middlctown]  eight  shillings  (he  having  promised  that 
he  will  require  no  more)  ;  and  that  he  shall  be  freed  for  the  time  afore- 
said from  watching,  warding,  and  training,  but  not  from  finding  arms 
according  to  law."     Dr.  Lord  died  in  Wethersfield  in. 1662. 

In  1651  Daniel  Porter  of  Farmington  was  licensed  to  practise 
"  Physic  and  Chirurgery,"  and  was  allowed  "six  pounds  a  year  with  six 
shillings  to  each  town  upon  the  river  to  exercise  his  art  of  surgery." 
He  seems  to  have  had  considerable  reputation  as  a  bone-setter.  In 
1670  the  General  Court  raised  his  salary  on  the  condition  that  he  would 
instruct  one  or  more  persons  in  his  art.  Thomas  Hooker,  of  Farming- 
ton,  and  Samuel  Mather,  of  Windsor,  were  the  two  selected,  and  in  clue 
time  were  licensed  to  practise  "  Physick  and  Chyrurgy  in  this  Colonic" 
The  first  really  noted  medical  name  to  appear  in  the  records  of  the 
"  good  old  colony  times  "  is  that  of  Gershom  Bulkeley.  He  was  the 
son  of  the  Rev.  Peter  Bulkeley,  who  came  from  England  and  settled 
in  Concord,  Mass.,  in  1635.  Dr.  Bulkeley  was  born  during  the 
voyage.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  and  after  pursuing  the 
study  of  Divinity  and  Medicine  for  several  years,  removed  to  Connecti- 
cut. For  twenty  years  he  followed  the  ministry,  and  was  pastor  of  the 
churches  in  New  London  and  Wethersfield.  In  one  of  the  Indian  wars 
he  was  chosen  surgeon  to  the  colonial  forces.  He  then  gave  up  the 
ministry,  and  in  1686  the  General  Court,  "  being  acquainted  with  the 
ability,  skill,  and  knowledge  of  Gershom  Bulkeley  in  the  art  of  physic 
and  chirurgery,  did  grant  him  full  and  free  liberty  and  license  to  prac- 
tise as  there  shall  be  occasion  and  he  shall  be  agreeable."  From  this 
it  is  evident  that  during  the  twenty  years  of  his  ministerial  life  he 
practised  as  well  as  preached.  He  finally  removed  to  the  east  side  of 
the  river,  afterward  incorporated  as  Glastonbury,  and  for  thirty  years 
followed  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  died  in  Glastonbury,  in  1713, 
at  the  age  of  seventy -eight  years.  From  the  inscription  upon  his  grave- 
stone in  the  churchyard  in  Wethersfield  it  appears  that  he  was  regarded 
as  a  "  man  of  rare  abilities  and  extraordinary  industry,  excellent  in 
learning,  master  of  many  languages,  exquisite  in  his  skill  in  Divinity, 
Physics,  and  Law,  and  of  a  most  exemplary  and  Christian  life.  In  cer- 
tain spem  beatce  resurrectionis  repositus."  Most  of  his  medical  library 
is  now  in  the  possession  of  Trinity  College. 

Mention  should  be  made  of  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  who  while  Governor 
of  Connecticut  lived  in  Hartford  (1657  to  1676).  He  was  a  noted 
physician  and  an  accomplished  scholar,  and  doubtless  practised  his 
profession  in  the  colony. 

Dr.  Samuel  Mather,  of  Windsor,  was  born  at  Branford  in  1677, 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1698,  and  was  licensed  to  practise  by 
the  General  Court  in  1702.  He  was  held  in  high  esteem  both  as  a 
physician  and  a  citizen,  holding  civil  and  military  offices  of  importance. 
He  died  Feb.  6,  1745,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  Samuel 
Higlcy,  of  Simsbury,  was  licensed  to  practise  in  1717.     He  kept  school 


138  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

for  three  years,  during  two  of  which  he  studied  medicine  with  Drs. 
Thomas  Hooker  and  Samuel  Mather,  and  was  a  man  of  considerable 
scientific  attainments.  He  discovered  a  process  of  making-  steel,  and 
in  May,  1728,  received  a  patent  for  it  from  the  General  Assembly.  The 
record  reads  as  follows :  "  The  said  Higiey  hath  found  out  and  ob- 
tained a  curious  art  by  which  to  convert,  change,  and  transmute  com- 
mon iron  into  good  steel  sufficient  for  any  use,  and  that  he  was  the 
very  first  that  ever  performed  such  an  operation  in  America  .  .  .  asks 
for  the  privilege  and  license  for  the  sole  practice  of  the  said  art  for  a 
term  of  ten  years.  We,  being  willing  to  give  all  due  encouragement  to 
works  of  this  nature,  are  pleased  to  condescend  to  this  request." 

In  1722,  Dr.  Jonathan  Bull,  who,  Dr.  Sumner  says,  "  was  for  many 
years  the  physician  of  the  county,"  was,  after  studying  with  a  physician 
in  Boston  for  seven  years,  licensed  to  practise  medicine  in  Hartford. 

In  1736,  Dr.  Norman  Morrison,  a  native  of  Scotland,  bearing  a 
medical  diploma  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  came  to  this  country 
and  settled  in  Hartford.  He  was  regarded  as  a  learned  physician,  and 
became  the  instructor  of  many  young  men  in  the  colony.  "  He  died 
much  loved  and  lamented,  April  9, 1761,  in  ye  55  year  of  his  age."  Dr. 
Sumner  says  of  him  :  "  He  was  the  first  man  in  the  colony  who  separated 
the  practice  of  medicine  from  pharmacy  and  encouraged  the  establish- 
ment of  an  independent  apothecary  in  this  city  [Hartford],  and  by  so 
doing  he  proved  himself  in  advance  of  the  other  physicians." 1  Dr. 
Joseph  M.  Toner,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  in  his  "  Contributions  to  the 
Annals  of  Medical  Progress  in  the  United  States,"  says  that  Dr.  John 
Morgan  of  Philadelphia  was,  in  1765,  the  first  American  physician  to 
adopt  and  publicly  advocate  the  theory  that  medical  men  should  confine 
themselves  to  prescribing  remedies,  leaving  to  the  apothecary  the  com- 
pounding of  medicines."  Perhaps  Dr.  Morgan  got  his  ideas  on  this 
subject  from  Dr.  Morrison,  who  had,  some  years  before,  advocated  the 
same  theory  in  Hartford. 

Jonathan  Williams  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1722,  and  prac- 
tised medicine  in  Wethersfield.    He  died  in  1738,  aged  thirty-two  years. 

Samuel  Porter,  of  Farmington,  was  licensed  in  1720,  and  was  a  sur- 
geon of  some  repute.     The  following  certificate  is  in  existence  :  — 

"  This  may  certify  that  I,  the  subscriber,  do  judge  the  abovesaid  Thos.  Thomp- 
son has  a  considerable  insight  in  the  art  of  physic  and  chirurgery,  and  has  for 
many  years  practised  the  said  art  and  with  good  success  in  his  administrations. 

Samuel  Pokter,  allowed  Chirurgeon. 

"  Farmington,  May  the  12th,  1721." 

Among  the  early  physicians  of  Farmington  were  Drs.  Hart,  Judd, 
Stanley,  Thompson,  and  Wadsworth.    Little  is  known  concerning  them. 

1  Two  establishments  for  the  sale  of  drugs  and  medicjnes  were  opened  in  Hartford  in 
1757  :  one  by  Dr.  Sylvanus  Gardiner,  an  eminent  physician  of  Boston,  who  set  up  here  a 
branch  of  his  establishment  in  that  city  for  the  importation  and  sale  of  drugs,  intrusting  the 
business  to  a  junior  partner,  Dr.  William  Jepson,  under  the  firm  name  of  Gardiner  &  Jepson  ; 
the  other  by  Dr.  Daniel  Lothrop,  of  Norwich,  in  connection  with  Solomon  Smith.  Dr.  Lo- 
throp,  "  the  first  druggist  in  Norwich,  and  probably  the  first  in  Connecticut  who  kept  any 
general  assortment  of  medicines  for  sale,"  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  and  had  prosecuted 
his  professional  studies  in  London.  Solomon  Smith  was  one  of  his  apprentices  and  students. 
In  July,  1760,  "  Lothrop  &  Smith,  at  their  store  in  King  [now  Main]  Street,"  advertised  "just 
imported  from  London,  a  large  and  universal  assortment  of  medicines  genuine  and  of  the  best 
kind,  sets  of  surgeon's  instruments,"  etc. 


MEDICAL   HISTORY.  139 

Dr.  Timothy  Hosmer  was  born  in  West  Hartford,  but  began  medical 
practice  in  Farmington,  and  resided  there  many  years.  He  served  in  the 
Revolutionary  War  as  a  surgeon,  and  after  leaving  the  army  returned  to 
Farmington,  where  he  resided  until  1790,  when  he  removed  to  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  was  appointed  the  first  judge  of  Ontario  County. 

Dr.  John  Hart,  a  native  of  Kensington,  was  also  a  surgeon  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  He  came  to  Farmington  at  some  time  during 
the  war,  and  remained  there  until  about  1798,  when  he  entered  the 
naval  service  of  the  United  States,  and  soon  after  died  at  sea. 

Dr.  James  Hurlburt  was  born  at  Berlin  in  1717,  and  for  many 
years  practised  medicine  in  his  native  town.  He  was  a  noted  character 
of  his  time,  learned,  eccentric,  and  unfortunate.  He  died  penniless,  and 
but  for  the  friendship  of  one  of  the  patrons  of  his  early  days,  would 
have  died  homeless  as  well.  The  last  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in 
Wethersfield,  where  he  died  April  11,  1794,  aged  seventy-seven  years. 

Dr.  Alexander  Wolcott,  a  distinguished  practitioner  of  Windsor, 
was  born  Jan.  7,  1712.  He  was  a  son  of  Governor  Roger  Wolcott, 
and  a  great-grandson  of  Henry  Wolcott,  the  first  ancestor  of  the  family 
in  Connecticut.  He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Norman  Morrison,  and 
about  the  year  1740  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  his  native 
town,  where  he  lived  honored  and  respected  until  his  death,  in  1795. 

A  word  must  be  said  of  "  Dr.  Primus,"  who  practised  medicine  with 
much  success,  and  gained  considerable  reputation  for  being  a  skilful 
physician.  Primus  was  a  negro  slave,  and  for  many  years  a  faithful 
servant  of  Dr.  Wolcott.  He  accompanied  the  Doctor  on  his  medical 
drives,  and  helped  him  in  compounding  medicines,  etc.  In  his  old  age, 
and  as  a  reward  for  his  faithful  service,  the  Doctor  gave  him  his  liberty. 
Primus  very  soon  went  to  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and,  as  "  Dr. 
Primus,"  obtained  a  considerable  practice,  often  running  across  the 
tracks  of  his  former  master. 

Another  prominent  medical  name  connected  with  Windsor  is  that 
of  Dr.  Elihu  Tudor,  son  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Tudor,  and  born  in  that 
town,  Feb.  8,  1782.  He  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1750,  and 
studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Benjamin  Gale,  of  Killingworth,  wdio  was  a 
famous  physician  in  his  day.  Dr.  Tudor  went  to  London  in  1762,  and 
pursued  his  medical  studies  there  for  two  years,  after  which  he  returned 
and  settled  in  East  Windsor,  where  he  practised  for  many  years.  His 
reputation  as  a  surgeon  was  at  one  time  equal  if  not  superior  to  that  of 
any  other  in  New  England.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Con- 
necticut Medical  Society,  and  its  second  vice-president.  He  died  in 
1826,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-three  years. 

Dr.  Timothy  Mather  also  practised  in  Windsor.  He  died  April  5, 
1788,  aged  thirty-four  years. 

Dr.  Charles  Mather  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1763.  He  prac- 
tised in  East  (now  South)  Windsor  until  about  1795,  when  he  removed 
to  Hartford,  where  he  gained  considerable  reputation,  especially  in  the 
treatment  of  the  diseases  of  women.     He  died  in  1822. 

Dr.  Christopher  Wolcott  also  practised  in  Windsor.  He  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Hartford  County  Medical  Society. 

Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins,  of  Hartford,  was  in  the  last  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century  one  of  the  most  eminent  practitioners  of  the  county, 
and  ranked  among  the  first  physicians  of  the  State,  if  not  at  the  head 


140  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

of  the  profession.  He  was  born  at  Waterbury,  June  19,  1750.  He 
practised  for  some  years  (1776  to  1784)  with  Dr.  Seth  Bird,  of  Litch- 
field, with  whom  he  studied  medicine,  and  then  removed  to  Hartford, 
where  he  continued  in  practice  during  his  life.  He  was  a  learned  man 
outside  of  his  profession,  and  a  poet  and  political  writer  of  much  note 
in  his  clay.  In  1784  he  received  an  honorary  degree  from  Yale  Col- 
lege. He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society. 
He  died  April  14,  1801,  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age. 

Josiah  Rose,  a  native  of  Wethersfield,  was  a  leading  physician  and 
surgeon  in  his  day.     He  died  in  1786,  aged  seventy  years. 

Dr.  William  Jepson  was  a  prominent  physician  of  Hartford,  in  the 
last  half  of  the  last  century  (see  note  on  a  previous  page). 

Dr.  Isaac  Mosely,  graduated  from  Yale  in  1762,  was  a  practising 
physician  of  Glastonbury.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  he  re- 
moved to  England,  his  sympathies  being  with  the  mother  country. 

Dr.  Elizur  Hale  was  also  a  practitioner,  and  a  native  of  Glastonbury. 
He  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1742.  His  son  Elizur  was  a  practi- 
tioner in  the  same  town.     He  died  Dec.  6,  1796. 

Dr.  Aaron  Roberts,  of  Cromwell,  served  throughout  the  Revolution- 
ary War,  and  settled  in  New  Britain  in  1783.  He  died  in  that  town, 
Nov.  21,  1792,  aged  sixty-two  years. 

Asaph  Coleman,  born  in  Colchester,  began  the  practice  of  medicine 
in  Glastonbury  in  1774.  He  served  throughout  the  Revolution  as  a 
surgeon  of  Connecticut  troops.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Hartford  County  Medical  Society.  He  died  Nov.  15,  1820,  aged 
seventy-three  years. 

Dr.  Eliakim  Fish,  a  prominent  physician  of  Hartford,  was  born  in 
1741,  and  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1760.  He  was  the  first  presi- 
dent of  the  Hartford  County  Medical  Society.     He  died  May  7,  1804. 

Dr.  Josiah  Belden  was  born  in  Wethersfield,  March  29,  1768,  and 
graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1787,  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years.  He 
was  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins,  and  settled  in  his  native  town, 
where  he  was  held  in  great  esteem  both  as  a  physician  and  as  an  up- 
right and  godly  man.  He  died  June  6,  1818,  at  the  age  of  forty,  of 
spotted  fever,  in  the  fatal  epidemic  of  that  disease. 

The  Hartford  County  Medical  Society  was  established  Sept.  25,  1792. 
On  the  19th  of  the  April  preceding,  a  meeting  of  the  physicians  and 
surgeons  of  the  county  had  been  held  at  Hartford,  in  accordance 
with  a  request  from  the  Medical  Society  of  New  Haven  County,  which 
had  been  established  in  1784.  The  object  of  this  meeting  was  to  appoint 
delegates  "to  unite  with  delegates  from  the  several  counties  in  the  State 
(in  a  general  convention  at  Hartford  in  May  next  ensuing)  in  fram- 
ing a  General  Bill  of  Incorporation  of  the  Faculty  thro'out  this  State, 
and  to  present  the  same,  that  it  may  be  passed  into  an  Act  by  the  then 
convened  General  Assembly."  Dr.  Elihu  Tudor  was  chairman  of  this 
meeting,  and  Dr.  Elihu  H.  Smith,  clerk.  The  convention  was  held  at 
the  time  appointed,  and  the  Act  duly  passed  by  the  General  Assembly, 
and  "  agreeable  to  Act,"  etc.,  the  first  meeting  of  the  Hartford  County 
Medical  Society  was  held  at  Hartford,  Sept.  25,  1792.  From  that  time 
to  the  present,  a  period  of  ninety-two  years,  a  meeting  of  this  society 
has  been  held  each  year  at  Hartford.  The  officers  of  this  first  meeting 
were  Dr.   Eliakim  Fish,  moderator ;  Dr.  Elihu  H.  Smith,  clerk  ;  and 


MEDICAL   HISTORY. 


141 


Dr.  John  Indicott,  treasurer.  The  delegates  elected  to  represent  the 
county  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society,  which 
was  held  at  Middletown  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  October,  1792,  were 
Dr.  Eliakim  Fish,  Dr.  Elihu  Tudor,  Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins,  Dr.  Josiah 
Hart,  and  Dr.  Samuel  Flagg.  The  first  roll  of  membership  had  forty- 
one  names,  comprising  most  if  not  all  of  the  prominent  medical  men  in 
the  county.     They  were  as  follows  :  — 

Howard  Alden.  Josiah  Hart.  George  Olcott. 

John  Bestor.  John  Hart.  Caleb  Perkins. 

Eliphalet  Buck.  Asa  Hillyer.  John  Potter. 

Isaiah  Chapman.  Josiah  Holt.  Josiah  Root. 

Mason  F.  Cogswell.  Lemuel  Hopkins.  John  Skinner. 

Asaph  Coleman.  John  Indicott.  Elihu  H.  Smith. 

Solomon  Everett.  Jason  Jerome.  Adna  Stanley. 

Eliakim  Fish.  Joseph  Jewett.  Eli  Todd. 

Samuel  Flagg.  Charles  Mather.  Elihu  Tudor. 

Samuel  Flagg,  Jr.,  Charles  Mather,  Jr.  Edward  Tudor. 

Amos  Granger.  Titus  Merriman.  Theodore  Wadsworth. 

George  Griswold.  Dwell  Morgan.  .  Sylvester  Wadsworth. 

Joseph  Hale.  Abner  Moseley.  Christopher  Wolcott. 

Timothy  Hall.  Mark  Newell. 

There  are  at  this  date  one  hundred  and  eleven  names  upon  its  roll 
of  membership.  It  would  be  impossible  in  this  article  to  mention  the 
names  of  all  who  have  died  since  the  society  was  founded,  although 
something  could  be  said  of  each  one  who  "  fought  the  good  fight  and 
kept  the  faith."  It  must  suffice  to  mention  some  few  of  the  more 
prominent  medical  names  of  the  county  during  the  present  century. 

Dr.  Elihu  H.  Smith,  the  first  clerk  of  the  County  Society,  was  born 
at  Litchfield,  Sept.  4, 1771,  and  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1786. 
He  first  settled  in  Hartford,  where  he  practised  medicine  until  1793, 
when  he  removed  to  New  York,  and  in  1796  was  appointed  physician  to 
the  New  York  Hospital.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  literary  attain- 
ments. In  1797  he  published  an  opera  in  three  acts,  entitled  "  Edwin 
and  Angelina,"  and  was  the  supposed  author,  in  1798,  of  "  Andre," 
a  five-act  tragedy.  He  fell  a  victim  to  the  yellow  fever,  September, 
1798,  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven  years,  in  the  epidemic  of  that  year. 

Dr.  Mason  Fitch  Cogswell  was  born  at  Canterbury,  Sept.  17,  1761, 
and  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1780.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the 
"  youngest  scholar,  but  the  most  distinguished,  of  his  class."  He  studied 
medicine  with  his  brother,  and  was  associated  with  him  in  practice  in 
Stamford  and  afterward  in  New^  York.  In  1789  he  settled  in  Hartford 
and  became  a  prominent  physician  in  that  city,  and  noted  as  a  skilful 
surgeon.  He  ligated  the  carotid  artery  in  1803,  "  at  a  time  when  it 
had  been  attempted  by  no  other  surgeon  in  America."  It  was  mainly 
by  his  efforts  that  the  Americau  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  was 
established  in  Hartford.  His  daughter,  Alice  Cogswell,  was  a  mute, 
and  the  Asylum  was  the  result  of  his  endeavors  to  ameliorate  her 
unhappy  condition.     He  died  Dec.  17,  1833,  aged  seventy-two  years. 

Dr.  Sylvester  Wells  came  to  Hartford  in  1806.  He  was  a  brilliant 
man,  and  became  noted  for  his  extreme  political  views,  being  a  prominent 
Democrat.  His  religious  and  medical  views  were  also  extreme.  He  had 
many  friends,  and  made  many  enemies.    He  lived  to  an  advanced  age. 


142  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

Dr.  Eli  Todd,  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  his  time,  was  born 
in  New  Haven,  July  22,  1769,  and  graduated  from  Yale  College  in 
1787.  He  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Farmington.  At  the  age 
of  fifty  he  removed  to  Hartford,  where  he  remained  until  his  death. 
He  was  the  first  to  call  public  attention  to  the  condition  of  the  insane 
in  this  State,  and  the  necessity  of  an  asylum  for  these  unfortunates,  and 
it  was  owing  mainly  to  his  efforts  that  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane  was 
established  in  Hartford.  He  was  its  first  superintendent,  and  retained 
the  position  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  November,  1833. 

Dr.  John  L.  Comstock  was  a  surgeon  in  the  War  of  1812.  He 
resided  in  Hartford,  and  was  the  author  of  several  popular  books  on 
natural  philosophy,  chemistry,  geology,  physiology,  etc. 

Dr.  Elijah  F.  Reed  was  for  many  years  a  successful  practitioner  in 
East  Windsor.  In  1848  he  published  a  "  History  of  Febrile  Diseases," 
occurring  in  his  practice  between  the  years  1779  and  1837. 

Dr.  William  Tully,  who,  his  biographer  says,  "  was  doubtless  the 
most  learned  and  scientific  physician  of  New  England,"  was  born  at 
Saybrook  Point,  Feb.  18, 1785,  and  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1806. 
He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Mason  F.  Cogswell,  and  afterward  with 
Dr.  Eli  Ives,  of  New  Haven.  In  October,  1810,  he  was,  after  examina- 
tion, licensed  by  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society  to  practise  medicine 
and  surgery ;  and  in  1819  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine 
was  conferred  upon  him  by  Yale  College.  Early  in  life  he  devoted  him- 
self to  the  study  of  botany,  and  afterward  from  his  writings  and  teach- 
ings became  noted  for  his  knowledge  of  the  Materia  Medica.  He  first 
practised  in  Enfield,  then  in  Milford,  and  afterward  in  Middletown.  In 
June,  1822,  he  removed  to  East  Hartford,  from  which  place  he  was 
called  in  1826  to  fill  the  chair  of  Theory  and  Practice  in  the  Vermont 
Academy  of  Medicine.  In  1829  he  succeeded  Dr.  Eli  Ives  as  Professor 
of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics  in  the  Medical  Department  of  Yale 
College.  He  resigned  his  professorship  in  1841,  and  in  1851  removed  to 
Springfield,  Mass.,  where  he  died  Feb.  28, 1859,  aged  seventy-four  years. 

Dr.  Samuel  B.  Woodward  was  born  at  Torrington,  June  10, 1787, 
and  at  twenty-one  years  of  age  was  licensed  to  practise  medicine  by  the 
Connecticut  Medical  Society.  He  settled  in  Wethersfield,  and  became 
eminent  for  his  professional  abilities.  He  was  one  of  the  most  active 
and  earnest  workers  for  the  establishment  of  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane 
in  Hartford,  and  about  the  year  1830  was  elected  first  superintendent 
of  the  State  Lunatic  Asylum  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  which  office  he  held 
thirteen  years.  He  was  the  first  president  of  the  Association  of  Super- 
intendents of  Insane  Asylums  in  the  United  States,  which  was  founded 
in  1844.  A  few  years  before  his  death,  and  on  account  of  ill  health, 
he  gave  up  his  position  in  the  asylum  at  Worcester,  and  removed  to 
Northampton,  where  he  died  Jan.  3,  1850,  aged  sixty-three  years. 

Dr.  Amariah  Brigham  was  born  at  New  Marlborough,  Mass.,  Dec. 
26,  1798,  and  early  in  life  began  the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  E.  C. 
Peet,  of  Marlborough,  and  afterward  with  Dr.  Plumb,  of  Canaan.  He 
began  the  practice  of  medicine  before  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
in  Enfield,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  two  years,  after  which  he  removed 
to  Greenfield,  Mass.,  where  he  practised  seven  years.  He  then  went 
to  Europe,  remaining  abroad  about  two  years.  In  1831  he  settled  in 
Hartford,  and  in  1840  was   chosen  superintendent  of  the  Retreat  for 


MEDICAL   HISTORY.  143 

the  Insane  in  that  city.  This  position  he  retained  until  the  fall  of 
1842,  when  he  was  chosen  superintendent  of  the  Insane  Asylum  at 
Utica,  New  York,  which  office  he  held  until  his  death,  Sept.  8,  1849. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  books  upon  subjects  connected  with  his 
specialty,  and  was  the  founder  and  editor  of  the  first  journal  in  the 
United  States  devoted  exclusively  to  the  subject  of  insanity. 

Dr.  Edwin  Wells  Carrington,  a  prominent  physician  of  Farmington, 
was  born  at  Woodbridge  (now  Bethany),  July  8,  1805,  and  graduated 
from  the  medical  department  of  Yale  College,  March  4,  1828.  He 
settled  in  Farmington,  where  he  remained  in  active  practice  until  his 
death,  Feb.  8,  1852,  at  the  age  of  fortv-seven  vears. 

Dr.  Archibald  Welch  was  born  in  Mansfield,  March  13,  1794.  In 
September,  1816,  he  was  licensed  to  practise  medicine  by  the  board  of 
medical  censors  of  Windham  County.  In  1832  he  removed  to  Wcth- 
ersfield  to  take  the  place  of  Dr.  S.  B.  Woodward,  upon  the  removal  of 
the  latter  to  Worcester.  He  removed  to  Hartford  in  1848,  and  prac- 
tised there  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  killed  May  6, 1853, 
in  the  Norwalk  drawbridge  disaster  on  the  New  York  and  New  Haven 
Kail  road,  while  returning  with  other  delegates  from  the  meeting  of  the 
American  Medical  Association,  which  had  been  held  in  New  York  City. 

Dr.  George  Sumner  was  born  in  Pomfret,  Dec.  13,  1794,  graduated 
from  Yale  College  in  1813,  and  received  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1817.  He  went  to  Hart- 
ford, Jan.  1,  1819,  and  practised  his  profession  in  that  city  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  Feb.  20,  1855.  He  was  a  man  of  more  than 
ordinary  attainments,  and  an  honored  and  successful  practitioner.  He 
was  the  Professor  of  Botany  in  Trinity  College  for  more  than  twenty 
years,  and  was  the  author  of  a  valuable  work  on  that  science.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane,  and  a  most  energetic 
and  zealous  worker  in  its  behalf.  At  the  death  of  Dr.  Todd  he  was 
unanimously  elected  to  fill  the  office  of  superintendent ;  but  he  de- 
clined the  offer,  though  he  remained  a  director  and  a  medical  visitor 
until  his  death. 

From  the  year  1855  to  1870  there  were  but  few  deaths  among 
the  medical  practitioners  of  the  county. 

William  S.  Pierson,  M.D.,  of  Windsor,  a  descendant  of  the  Rev. 
Abraham  Pierson,  who  emigrated  from  England  in  1640,  was  born 
at  North  Killingworth,  Nov.  17,  1787,  graduated  from  Yale  College 
in  1808,  and  received  his  medical  degree  from  Dartmouth  College  in 
1813.  After  practising  his  profession  in  his  native  town  for  a  few 
months,  he  removed  to  Durham,  where  he  remained  four  years,  and 
then,  in  1818,  removed  to  Windsor,  where  he  spent  the  remaining 
forty-two  years  of  his  life.  It  was  the  custom  in  those  days  for  the 
people  of  a  town,  when  they  were  in  want  of  a  physician,  to  extend  to 
him  a  formal  invitation  to  settle  among  them  ;  and  it  was  in  answer  to 
such  an  invitation  that  Dr.  Pierson  went  to  Windsor.  He  died  July  16, 
1860,  in  the  seventy -fourth  year  of  his  age. 

Jared  Whitfield  Pardee,  M.D.,  was  born  at  East  Haven,  Jan.  2, 
1792,  graduated  from  Yale  College,  and  received  his  medical  degree 
from  the  same  institution.  He  settled  in  Bristol,  where  he  practised 
for  many  years,  and  where  he  died  Jan.  7,  1867,  aged  seventy-five 
years. 


144  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

During  the  next  decade,  a  number  of  physicians,  prominent  in 
their  profession,  dropped  from  the  ranks ;  among  them  were  the 
following : 

Henry  Holmes,  M.D.,  a  genial  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  was 
born  at  Litchfield,  Feb.  14,  1795,  and  graduated  from  the  medical  de- 
partment of  Yale  College  in  1825.  He  first  practised  in  Durham,  and 
removed  to  Hartford  in  1833,  where  he  remained  until  his  death,  July 
31,  1870,  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

Samuel  B.  Beresford,  M.D.,  well  known  throughout  the  State  as  a  suc- 
cessful physician,  a  skilful  surgeon,  and  an  accomplished  gentleman,  was 
born  in  Dutch  Guiana,  July  5,  1806.  In  1826  he  received  a  surgeon's 
diploma  from  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  at  Edinburgh,  and  a  degree 
in  medicine  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  On  the  3d  of  Novem- 
ber of  the  same  year  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons  in  London.  He  came  to  Hartford,  May  12,  1834,  with  his 
father,  Dr.  James  Beresford,  who  was  also  a  member  of  the  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Surgeons  of  London,  and  a  surgeon  in  the  British  army. 
Father  and  son  practised  together  until  the  death  of  the  former,  March 
4,  1843.  Dr.  James  Beresford  was  born  Jan.  8,  1783.  Dr.  Samuel  B. 
Beresford  remained  in  Hartford  in  active  practice  until  1870,  when  he 
was  obliged  to  relinquish  it  on  account  of  ill  health.  He  died  at 
Hartford,  Oct.  13,  1873,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age. 

Dr.  Albert  Morrison,  of  Windsor,  was  born  at  Hebron,  March  13, 
1820,  and  graduated  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
New  York  City,  in  1847.  His  death  was  a  very  sad  one.  While  driv- 
ing one  of  his  cows  from  the  railroad  track,  he  was  struck  by  the 
locomotive  of  a  passing  train  and  instantly  killed.  "  He  died  on  the 
18th  of  July,  1873,  and  was  buried  from  the  church  which  he  so 
dearly  loved.  The  attending  crowd  bore  witness  to  the  honor  and 
respect  in  which  he  was  held." 

William  R.  Brownell,  M.D.,  was  born  at  Providence,  March  30, 
1828,  and  graduated  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
New  York  City,  in  1851.  He  settled  in  Hartford,  where  he  practised 
until  1861,  when  he  entered  the  service  of  the  United  States  and 
served  as  a  surgeon  in  the  army  throughout  the  Civil  War.  At  the 
close  of  the  Rebellion,  in  1865,  he  returned  to  Hartford  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  his  profession.     He  died  at  Hartford,  Dec.  1,  1873. 

Lucien  S.  Wilcox,  M.D.,  was  born  in  Granby,  July  17,  1826.  He 
graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1850,  and  received  his  medical  de- 
gree from  the  same  institution  in  1855.  In  1857  he  settled  in  Hart- 
ford, where  he  remained  until  his  death.  In  1877  he  was  elected  to 
the  Chair  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine  in  the  medical 
department  of  Yale  College,  which  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  Nov.  26,  1881. 

James  C.  Jackson,  M.D.,  was  born  at  Cornish,  New  Hampshire, 
Aug.  22,  1818,  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College  in  1844,  and  re- 
ceived his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  from  Jefferson  Medical  Col- 
lege, Philadelphia,  in  1847.  He  settled  in  Hartford,  where  he  remained 
in  active  practice  until  his  death.  He  obtained  considerable  reputa- 
tion as  an  obstetrician,  and  his  practice  in  that  branch  of  the  profession 
was  very  large.  He  died  from  pneumonia,  Feb.  7,  1882,  aged  sixty- 
four  years. 


MEDICAL   HISTORY.  145 

George  B.  Hawley,  M.D.,  was  born  at  Bridgeport,  Feb.  13,  1812, 
graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1833,  and  from  the  medical  depart- 
ment of  the  same  college  in  1835.  In  1836  he  became  associated  with 
Dr.  Silas  Fuller,  then  superintendent  of  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane 
at  Hartford.  In  1840  he  commenced  general  practice  in  Hartford. 
Dr.  Hawley  was  the  founder  of  the  Hartford  Hospital,  and  it  is  owing 
chiefly  to  his  untiring  labors  and  keen  oversight  that  this  institution 
is  so  admirably  adapted  for  carrying  out  the  charitable  purposes  for 
which  it  was  established.  He  began  his  work  for  the  Hospital  in  1854, 
and  from  that  time  it  became  the  work  of  his  life,  and  he  was  the  lead- 
ing spirit  in  its  management  until  his  death,  which  took  place  April  18, 

1883,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one  years.  To  Dr.  Hawley  is  also  due  in 
a  large  measure  the  founding  of  the  Old  People's  Home  in  Hartford. 
A  history  of  both  of  these  institutions,  as  well  as  that  of  the  American 
Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  and  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane,  will 
be  found  in  another  part  of  this  volume.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however, 
that  the  first  promoters  of  all  of  these  noble  charities  were  members 
of  the  medical  profession.     "  By  their  works  shall  ye  know  them." 

Charles  W.  Chamberlain,  M.D.,  was  born  at  Providence,  July  21, 
1844,  graduated  from  Brown  University  in  1867,  and  from  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  New  York  City,  in  1871.  He  settled  in 
Hartford  soon  after  his  graduation,  and  early  in  his  career  turned  his 
attention  to  sanitary  matters  and  became  an  authority  throughout  the 
State  on  questions  of  public  hygiene.  It  was  in  a  great  measure  due 
to  his  efforts  that  a  State  Board  of  Health  was  established  by  the 
legislature  of  Connecticut.  He  was  appointed  its  first  secretary 
and  did  much  toward  making  it  effective.  He  was  Secretary  of  the 
Connecticut  Medical  Society  from  1876  to  1883.     He  died  Aug.  21, 

1884,  in  the  forty-first  year  of  his  age. 

Harry  Allen  Grant,  M.D.,  was  born  at  St.  Simon's  Island,  Georgia, 
Jan.  23,  1813.  He  graduated  at  Union  College  in  1830,  received  his 
medical  education  at  the  Baltimore  Medical  College,  began  practice 
in  Albany,  New  York,  and  settled  in  Hartford  in  1837.  Here  he  re- 
mained for  twelve  years,  when,  owing  to  ill  health,  he  was  obliged  to 
give  up  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  died  at  Enfield,  Nov.  30, 
1884,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  physicians  of  Hartford  County  who 
served  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion :  — 

Matthew  T.  Newton        May  13,  1861-Feb.  17,  1864. 

Benjamin  N.  Comings Nov.  6,  1861-Jan.  26,  1863. 

George  Clary Nov.  9,  1861-April  25,  1866. 

William  E.  Brownell1 Nov.  9,  1861-Dec.  2,  1864. 

Henry  P.  Stearns        April  18,  1861-July  31,  1861. 

Samuel  W.  Skinner May  22,  1861-Sept.  25,  1865. 

Robert  E.  Ensign        Sept.  2,  1861-Jan.  3,  1862. 

George  A.  Hurlburt 1 Dec.  11,  1861-Aug.  2,  1865. 

Charles  R.  Hart Dec.  27,  1861-Aug.  25,  1865. 

Nathan  Mayer Mar.  10,  1862-June  24,  1865. 

Levi  Jewett July  15,  1862-Jan.  4,  1865. 

1  Died  since  the  war. 
VOL.    I.  —  10. 


146  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Abner  S.  Warner July  28,  1862-Jan.  28,  1863. 

Edmund  M.  Pease Aug.  16,  1862-Jan.  9,  1864. 

Sabin  Stocking 1 Aug.  29,  1862-July  19,  1865. 

Jonathan  S.  Curtis Sept.  15,  1862-Dec.  11,  1862. 

Wharton  H.  Godard Oct.  2,  1862-Aug.  26,  1863. 

H.  Clinton  Bunce Oct.  10,  1862-Oct.  22,  1863. 

Levi  S.  Pease1 Nov.  21,  1862-Aug.  28,  1863. 

Charles  J.  Tennant Feb.  21,  1863-June  16,  1865. 

William  B.  North March  20,  1863-May  9,  1864. 

Besides  the  Hartford  County  Medical  Society,  of  which  mention 
has  already  been  made,  there  have  been  three  others  established  in  the 
county;  namely,  the  Hopkins  Medical  Society,  the  Hartford  Medical 
Society,  and  the  Medical  Journal  and  Library  Association  (Hartford). 

The  Hopkins  Medical  Society  was  founded  June  14,  1826,  and  took 
its  name  from  Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins,  of  Hartford.  It  was  composed  of 
the  leading  medical  men  of  this  region,  its  membership  not  being 
confined  to  Hartford  County.  Its  meetings  were  held  quarterly,  usu- 
ally at  Hartford,  and  continued  until  about  1844,  at  which  time  the 
organization  went  out  of  existence. 

The  Hartford  Medical  Society  was  established  Aug.  27, 1846,  in  the 
city  of  Hartford,  and  is  still  in  existence,  holding  its  meetings  on  the 
first  and  third  Mondays  of  each  month. 

The  Medical  Journal  and  Library  Association  of  Hartford  was 
organized  in  January,  1873.     Its  object  was  "to  establish  a  library  of 

medical  books  and  journals,  and  to 
present  and  discuss  topics  of  profes- 
sional and  scientific  interest." 


DK.    HORACE    WELLS. 


tistry   in    Boston,  and    in 
practised  until,  his  death. 


The  honor    of   the 
anaesthesia     belongs 


discovery   of 
to     Hartford 


County,  although  it  does  not  abso- 
lutely belong  to  the  history  of  its 
medical  men.  As  anaesthesia  was, 
however,  of  such  momentous  impor- 
tance to  them,  as  well  as  being  the 
most  inestimable  boon  that  has  ever 
been  vouchsafed  to  suffering  human- 
ity, it  seems  fitting  that  the  history 
of  its  discovery  should  be  recorded 
upon  these  pages. 

Horace  Wells,  the  discoverer  of 
anaesthesia,  was  a  practising  dentist 
residing  in  Hartford.  He  was  born 
at  Hartford,  Windsor  Co.,  Vermont, 
Jan.  21,  18io,  and  died  in  New  York 
City,  Jan.  24,  1848,  in  the  thirty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age.  In  1834- 
1836  he  studied  and  practised  den- 
1836  he  removed  to  Hartford,  where  he 
The  story  of  his  great  discovery  is  told  in 


1  Died  since  the  war. 


MEDICAL   HISTORY.  147 

the  following  letter  from  Dr.  John  M.  Rig'gs,  who  was  a  student  in 
the  office  of  Dr.  Wells,  and  a  practising  dentist  in  Hartford  at  the  time 
of  the  discovery.  He  was  an  eye-witness  of  Dr.  Wells's  first  experi- 
ment, assisted  him  in  working  out  his  great  idea,  and  is  thoroughly 
conversant  with  all  the  facts  connected  with  Dr.  Wells's  practice  and 
his  life. 

Hartford,  March  16,  1885. 
Dr.  W.  A.  M.  Wainwright  : 

Dear  Doctor,  —  You  ask  for  a  concise  statement  of  facts  concerning  the  dis- 
covery of  anaesthesia  ;  it  is  as  follows  :  On  the  evening  of  Dec.  10,  1844,  there  was 
an  exhibition  of  "laughing  gas"  for  amusement  in  Union  Hall,  twenty-five  cents 
admission,  by  Mr.  Gr.  CL).  Colton,  at  which  exhibition  Dr.  Horace  Wells  was  present. 
During  the  exciting  stage  of  the  administration  of  the  gas  one  man  rushed  over 
the  seats  and,  falling,  abraded  the  skin  on  his  leg,  but  was  not  conscious  of  it  till 
some  twelve  or  fifteen  minutes  after,  when  it  began  to  pain  him.  Dr.  Wells  caught 
at  the  length  of  the  period  of  insensibility,  and  remarked,  "  I  can  extract  a  tooth 
from  one  under  its  influence,  without  pain."  At  the  close  of  the  exhibition  Dr. 
Wells  came  to  my  office  and  we  there  canvassed  till  near  midnight  the  whole 
subject  as  to  its  safety  and  the  degree  of  inhalation.  As  we  had  resolved  to  push 
the  inhalation  much  farther  than  for  a  mere  exhibition  for  fun,  we  naturally 
looked  for  a  patient  upon  whom  to  make  the  trial ;  but  the  chances  of  the  death 
of  said  patient  confronting  us,  Dr.  Wells  volunteered  to  be  the  patient  and  to  make 
the  trial  on  himself,  charging  me  to  stand  by  and  care  for  him.  The  next  morn- 
ing, Dec.  11,  1844,  as  per  agreement,  Dr.  Wells  came  into  my  office  and  said,  "  I 
am  ready.''  We  repaired  to  his  office  ;  he  took  a  seat  in  his  operating-chair, 
I  examined  the  tooth,  and  he  took  the  bag  in  his  own  hands  and  inhaled  the 
gas ;  as  he  lost  control  of  the  muscles  of  his  arms  his  elbows  slipped  off  from  the 
arms  of  the  chair,  dragging  the  gas-tube  from  his  mouth ;  his  head  dropped  back 
on  the  head-rest  and  I  slipped  the  forceps  on  the  tooth  (a  left  superior  molar) 
and  extracted  it.  He  soon  came  out  of  its  effects,  blew  out  the  blood  from  his 
mouth,  asked  if  it  was  out,  and  on  seeing  it,  with  a  gesture  of  the  hand,  ex- 
claimed, "  A  new  era  in  tooth-pulling  !  "  No  one  administered  the  gas  to  Wells  ; 
he  assumed  sole  responsibility  of  the  act.  Mr.  G.  Q.  Colton,  the  maker  of  the 
gas,  Mr.  Samuel  Cooley,  and  one  whose  name  has  escaped  me,  were  present,  near 
the  door.  From  that  time  onward  Dr.  Wells  and  myself  gave  the  gas  and 
extracted  teeth  as  patients  presented  themselves.  All  would  not  take  it ;  there 
was  great  fear  lest  it  would  cause  death  ;  only  two  physicians  of  our  city  (young 
men)  approved  of  the  administration  of  the  gas  or  took  any  interest  in  the 
discovery,  and  these  gentlemen  performed  several  painless  surgical  operations 
under  the  influence  of  the  gas  administered  by  Dr.  Wells  himself.  One  or  two 
months  subsequent  to  the  discovery  Wells  went  to  Boston  and  told  his  discov- 
ery to  Dr.  W.  T.  Morton  (a  former  student  of  Wells).  Some  three  years  prior 
to  the  discovery  Drs.  Wells  and  Morton  formed  a  partnership  to  open  a  dental 
office  in  Tremont  Street,  Boston.  Wells  soon  dissolved  the  partnership,  sold  out 
to  Morton,  and  returned  to  Hartford  until  the  events  of  Dec.  10  and  11,  1844. 
In  1846  Dr.  Morton  came  to  Hartford  on  his  summer  vacation  and  requested  Dr. 
Wells  to  show  him  how  to  make  the  gas.  Dr.  Wells  referred  him  to  Dr.  Jack- 
son, a  chemist  of  Boston,  as  he  would  tell  him  all  about  it.  Morton  went  to 
Jackson,  and  he  told  him  to  use  sulphuric  ether,  as  it  was  similar  in  its  effects, 
and  could  be  obtained  with  much  less  trouble.  Morton  testifies  to  this,  and  Dr. 
Jackson,  also.  Morton  procured  some  ether,  tried  it  on  himself  and  on  a  patient, 
and  then  laid  claim  to  the  discovery  of  anaesthesia,  which  Dr.  Wells  had  dis- 
covered twenty-two  months  before  through  the  agency  of  nitrous  oxide  gas,  as 
related  above.  Nor  is  this  all ;  the  gas  was  in  continuous  use  in  Wells's  and  my 
own  office  from  the  date  of  discovery  to  ami  after  the  time  when  Morton  made 


148 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


his  claim.  Morton  quietly  obtained  a  patent  fur  letheon  (a  misnomer),  which 
patent  was  pronounced  unpatentable  (because  of  former  use),  in  a  suit  in  the 
United  States  District  Court  of  New  York.  There  is  much  more  concurrent  and 
corroborative  proof  of  my  statement,  which  will  appear  in  my  unpublished 
"Minute  History  of  the  Discovery  of  Anaesthesia." 

Very  respectfully  yours, 


That  this  is  the  true  history  of  the  discovery  of  anaesthesia  in  the 
opinion  of  the  medical  profession  throughout  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
is  proved  by  the  following  minute,  which  was  adopted  without  a  dis- 
senting voice  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Medical  Society,  held 
at  New  Haven,  May  25,  1876 :  — 

"  In  reference  to  so  much  of  the  president's  address  as  relates  to  the  discov- 
ery of  anaesthesia,  this  convention  deems  it  proper  to  place  upon  its  record  at 
this  time  the  unanimous  conviction  of  its  members  that  to  the  late  Dr.  Horace 
Wells,  of  Hartford,  belongs  all  the  honor  of  this  invaluable  discovery. 

"The  proof  of  this  is  established  by  numerous  irrefragable  facts  now  before 
the  world ;  by  the  published  opinions  of  many  learned  and  distinguished  mem- 
bers of  the  medical  profession,  and  others  both  at  home  and  abroad ;  and  by  the 
unanimous  verdict  of  the  American  Medical  Association." 


c^'v/t^fafd- 


y 


MEDICAL   HISTORY.  149 


II. 

HOM(EOPATHY. 

BY   EDWARD    B.    HOOKER,    M.D. 

The  first  homoeopathic  physician  to  settle  in  Hartford  County  was 
Dr.  Gustavns  M.  Taft,  who  came  to  Hartford  in  1842.  He  was  not, 
however,  the  first  practitioner  in  the  State,  for  in  1837  Dr.  George  Tay- 
lor, of  New  Milford,  who  had  been  for  many  years  an  adherent  of  the 
old  school,  was  converted  to  homoeopathy  by  Dr.  Frederick  Vanderburg, 
of  New  York,  who,  while  on  a  visit  at  New  Milford,  restored  Dr.  Taylor's 
wife  to  health  when  hope  of  her  recovery  had  been  almost  abandoned. 
Homoeopathy  had  been  introduced  into  the  United  States  in  1825  by 
Dr.  Hans  Birch  Gram,  of  Copenhagen,  who  settled  in  New  York. 
Connecticut  was  the  fourth  State  into  which  the  new  system  made  its 
way.  The  first  homoeopathic  medical  society  in  the  State  was  formed 
in  1851  at  Hartford  by  eight  physicians  from  different  parts  of  the  State, 
who  organized  the  Connecticut  Institute  of  Homoeopathy.  The  found- 
ers of  the  society  were  Jeremiah  T.  Denison  of  Fairfield,  Charles  H. 
Skiff  of  New  Haven,  William  W.  Rodman  of  Waterbury,  George  S. 
Green,  C.  A.  Taft,  and  John  Schue,  of  Hartford,  William  C.  Bell  of  Mid- 
dletown,  and  Elial  T.  Foote  of  New  Haven.  Of  the  eight,  but  three  are 
now  living;  namely,  Drs.  Rodman,  Bell,  and  Green.  In  1852  the  name 
of  the  society  was  changed  to  the  Connecticut  Homoeopathic  Society, 
and  in  1864  a  charter  was  obtained  from  the  legislature  incorporating 
the  society  under  its  present  name  of  the  Connecticut  Homoeopathic  Med- 
ical Society,  and  giving  it  an  equal  position  with  the  Connecticut  Medical 
Society. 

While  homoeopathy  was  making  its  way  among  the  people  at  large, 
steadily  gaining  patronage  and  exerting  wider  influence,  it  met  with  a 
hostile  reception  from  the  medical  profession.  A  great  majority  of  the 
practitioners  calling  themselves  regular  physicians  refused  to  recognize 
professionally  the  followers  of  the  new  system.  A  few,  however,  were 
liberal  and  courageous  enough  to  consult  with  the  practitioners  of  the 
new  school,  for  which  conduct  some  of  them,  together  with  several  con- 
verts to  homoeopathy,  were  disciplined.  In  1855  Dr.  Charles  W.  Ensign, 
of  Tariffville,  a  graduate  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and 
a  member  of  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society,  became  convinced  of  the 
truth  and  efficacy  of  the  homoeopathic  principle  and  was  expelled  from 
the  society.  In  1856  Dr.  William  H.  Sage,  of  Unionville,  was  also  ex- 
pelled for  consulting  with  a  homoeopathic  physician,  and  in  1859  Dr.  J.  S. 
Curtis  of  Hartford  received  similar  treatment.  Dr.  Curtis's  expulsion 
created  much  feeling  and  was  widely  discussed  in  the  newspapers  of 
the  State  and  country.  Happily  the  prejudice  against  the  physicians 
of  the  new  school  has  grown  less,  though  slowly,  till  at  the  present 
time  but  little  of  it  remains  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  many  of  the  regu- 
lar physicians  —  especially  the  younger  ones  —  are  willing  to  consult 


150  MEMORIAL   HISTORY    OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

with  them  and  treat  them  with  the  courtesy  due  to  fellow-practitioners, 
although  the  rule  remains  unchanged  in  their  various  societies.  And 
it  is  but  fair  to  acknowledge  that  the  homoeopathic  physicians  have  also 
grown  more  liberal  and  are  broader  in  their  views;  that  they  recognize 
the  great  value  of  the  accumulated  experience  of  the  whole  medical  pro- 
fession, and  are  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  it,  giving  credit  where  credit 
is  due,  and  honoring  for  their  great  achievements  the  patient  investiga- 
tors who  have  labored  to  render  medicine  an  exact  science. 

In  1851  there  were  seven  homoeopathic  physicians  in  the  county, 
in  1860  thirteen,  in  1870  twenty-two,  in  1880  twenty-three,  and  at  the 
present  time  (October,  1885)  there  are  thirty,  seventeen  of  whom  are 
in  Hartford,  no  other  town  having  more  than  two. 

Dr.  Gustavus  M.  Taft,  who,  as  has  been  stated,  introduced  homoeopa- 
thy into  Hartford,  was  born  in  Dedham,  Mass.,  Dec.  20,  1820,  studied 
medicine  with  Dr.  Josiah  Flagg,  of  Boston,  the  second  physician  in  Mas- 
sachusetts to  embrace  the  new  system,  and  also  with  Drs.  John  F.  Gray 
and  Amos  G.  Hull  of  New  York,  graduated  at  the  University  of  New 
York  in  1842,  and  at  once  came  to  Hartford.  Although  but  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  and  remaining  in  the  city  only  three  years,  yet  such  was 
his  ability  and  force  of  character  that  he  rapidly  acquired  a  lucrative 
practice,  gaining  besides,  by  his  qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  a  large 
circle  of  warm  friends.  After  two  years  of  practice  Dr.  Taft's  health 
became  impaired,  and  he  induced  his  friend  and  fellow-student,  Dr.  John 
Scbue,  to  come  to  Hartford  and  form  a  partnership  with  him.  A  year 
later  he  was  compelled  to  seek  a  milder  climate,  and  in  November,  1845, 
removed  to  New  Orleans.  He  had  for  some  time  believed  that  homoe- 
opathy could  successfully  cope  with  yellow  fever,  and  one  reason  for 
choosing  New  Orleans  as  a  place  of  residence  was  that  he  might  have 
the  opportunity  to  test  the  efficacy  of  the  system  in  which  he  so  earn- 
estly believed,  in  the  treatment  of  that  disease.  His  appearance  in  New 
Orleans  gave  a  sudden  and  remarkable  impulse  to  homoeopathy,  and  he 
rapidly  acquired  an  immense  business.  Abundant  opportunity  occurred 
to  test  the  power  of  the  homoeopathic  method  over  yellow  fever,  and 
Dr.  Taft  was  very  successful  in  the  treatment  of  the  disease,  so  much 
so  that  he  was  overrun  with  cases  of  it  and  taxed  beyond  his  strength. 
While  thus  exhausted  from  overwork  he  was  himself  attacked  with  the 
fever,  but  with  calm  confidence  began  to  treat  himself,  using  the  reme- 
dies which,  in  his  hands,  had  proved  so  useful  to  others.  Delirium, 
however,  set  in  and  as  there  was  no  other  homoeopathic  physician  to 
continue  his  line  of  treatment  he  succumbed  to  the  disease  and  died  on 
the  10th  of  August,  1847.  Thus  passed  away  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven 
years  a  man  of  great  enthusiasm  and  rare  ability  in  his  profession,  who 
had  acquired  honorable  reputation  and  large  practice  in  two  cities, 
whose  death  caused  profound  sorrow  and  a  sense  of  public  loss  seldom 
felt  at  the  decease  of  one  of  his  age. 

Dr.  John  Schue  was  the  second  homoeopathic  physician  in  Hartford. 
He  was  born  in  Germany  in  1815,  studied  medicine  with  Drs.  Hull  and 
Gray  in  New  York,  and  graduated  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons in  1842.  In  1844  he  came  to  Hartford  and  formed  a  partnership 
with  Dr.  G.  M.  Taft,  continuing  in  business  alone,  after  Dr.  Taft's  de- 
parture, a  year  later,  until  his  death,  which  occurred  Sept.  25,  1856. 

Dr.  C.  A.  Taft  was  the  third  homoeopathic  physician  in  the  city.    He 


MEDICAL   HISTORY.  151 

was  born  at  Dedham,  Mass.,  in  1822,  and  was  the  brother  of  Dr.  G.  M. 
Taft.  He  graduated  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  New 
York  in  1846,  came  to  Hartford  the  same  year  and  remained  there  until 
his  death,  nearly  forty  years  afterward.  Attending  strictly  to  business, 
giving  himself  to  his  profession  with  a  devotion  that  left  room  for  noth- 
ing else,  seldom  absent  from  the  city  even  for  a  day,  he  was  not  long  in 
obtaining  the  recognition  which  his  ability  merited.  His  business  rap- 
idly increased,  and  as  the  years  went  on  he  undoubtedly  gained  the 
largest  and  most  profitable  practice  any  physician  ever  had  in  the  city. 
He  was  justly  regarded  as  its  leading  physician.  Dignified  in  manner, 
with  a  rare  beauty  of  countenance  and  elegance  of  figure,  calm  under 
the  most  trying  circumstances,  somewhat  austere  outwardly,  yet  sym- 
pathetic at  heart,  he  possessed  to  the  utmost  the  confidence  of  his  pa- 
tients, which  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  large  measure  of  success 
that  attended  his  efforts.  His  business  became  so  large  that  in  1871 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  Dr.  P.  S.  Starr,  which  existed  for  five 
years  and  was  then  dissolved.  For  several  years  before  Dr.  Taft's  death 
there  were  signs  that  the  unceasing  labor  of  so  many  years  was  begin- 
ning to  impair  his  health ;  yet  he  held  himself  closely  to  his  work,  with 
but  a  brief  respite  in  summer,  until  the  spring  of  1884,  when  absolute 
illness  confined  him  to  the  house.  After  a  sickness  of  several  weeks 
lie  died  June  26,  1884,  literally  worn  out  by  unremitting  labor.  His 
death  caused  widespread  sorrow,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  death  of  no 
other  person  could  have  carried  grief  into  so  many  homes  in  the  city. 

Dr.  Gardner  S.  Browne  was  born  at  Alstead,  New  Hampshire, 
Sept.  12,  1810.  After  graduating  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1834  he 
established  and  conducted  a  classical  school  at  Nashua,  New  Hampshire, 
for  two  years,  when  he  began  to  study  theology,  in  part  privately  and 
in  part  at  the  Yale  Theological  Seminary.  He  was  ordained  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Hinsdale,  New  Hampshire,  in  1838, 
and  labored  there  successfully  until  1844,  when  ill  health  compelled 
him  to  ask  for  his  dismission,  which  was  regretfully  granted.  For 
the  next  three  years  he  conducted  the  New  England  Institute  in 
New  York,  devoting  himself  at  the  same  time  to  the  study  of  medi- 
cine, to  which  he  had  long  been  inclined.  He  graduated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York  in  1847,  and  for  a  few  years  practised  in  several 
places  before  settling  permanently  in  Hartford  in  1850,  where  he 
continued  in  active  practice  for  more  than  twenty-five  years.  In  1865 
he  was  elected  president  of  the  Connecticut  Homoeopathic  Medical  So- 
ciety, and  held  the  office  for  a  year.  His  death  occurred  Dec.  29,  1876. 
Dr.  Browne  was  an  earnest,  warm-hearted,  generous  man,  and  his  death 
was  felt  with  keen  regret  by  a  large  circle  of  patients  and  friends. 
During  his  residence  in  Hartford  he  trained  fifteen  students,  many  of 
whom  would  have  been  unable  to  enter  the  medical  profession  but  for 
the  aid  he  rendered  them. 

Dr.  Harvey  Cole  was  born  at  Lebanon,  New  York,  in  1816.  He 
obtained  his  medical  education  at  the  Berkshire  Medical  College,  Pitts- 
field,  Mass.,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1846.  He  practised  for  a  few 
years  at  Stephentown  and  then  removed  to  Pittsfield,  where  he  resided 
for  nearly  twenty  years.  He  was  the  first  physician  who  practised 
homoeopathy  in  Berkshire  County.  He  removed  to  Hartford  in  1868, 
where  he  remained  until  his  death  in  1872. 


152  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Dr.  James  D.  Johnson  was  born  at  Hartford,  Aug.  14,  1847.  He 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  the  city,  graduating  from  the 
High  School  in  18(36.  He  pursued  his  medical  studies  as  a  student  of 
Dr.  Gardner  S.  Browne  and  graduated  at  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical 
College  in  1869.  He  returned  at  once  to  Hartford,  where  he  remained 
in  practice  until  his  death,  which  occurred  Feb.  25, 1884.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Connecticut  Homoeopathic  Medical  Society  during  1878,  and 
enjoyed  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  brother  practitioners  in  the 
city  and  State,  as  well  as  of  many  friends  and  patients,  who  sincerely 
regretted  his  death. 

Dr.  0.  B.  Taylor  was  the  first  and  has  been  the  only  homoeopathic 
physician  in  Manchester  or  vicinity.  He  settled  there  in  1849,  and  is 
still  in  practice. 

Dr.  Henry  Isham  was  the  first  homoeopathic  physician  to  settle 
in  New  Britain.  He  obtained  his  medical  education  at  the  New  York 
Homoeopathic  Medical  College,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1851.  In 
that  year  he  began  practice  in  New  Britain.  He  invented  a  bank-lock, 
which  still  bears  his  name,  and  became  so  occupied  with  its  manufac- 
ture that  he  practised  little  after  1857,  when  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  Dr.  George  P.  Cooley,  which  lasted  a  year.  Dr.  Cooley  afterward 
continued  in  practice  alone.  Dr.  Isham  died  in  1867.  There  are  now 
two  homoeopathic  physicians  in  New  Britain. 

Dr.  J.  E.  Lucas  introduced  homoeopathy  into  Thompsonville,  prac- 
tising there  from  1851  to  1861.  Although  "not  a  graduate  of  any  medi- 
cal college,  Dr.  Lucas  became,  by  study  and  large  experience,  a  capable 
physician,  and  built  up  an  extensive  practice  in  a  field  at  first  hostile  to 
homoeopathy.  After  leaving  Thompsonville  he  settled  in  Springfield, 
where  he  died  a  few  years  afterward. 

Dr.  E.  L.  Boyle  settled  in  Farmington  in  1852,  but  remained  there 
only  about  two  years,  moving  elsewhere  shortly  before  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1854  or  1855.  He  was  the  only  homoeopathic  physician 
who  has  ever  resided  in  Farmington  proper.  Unionville,  however,  has 
not  been  without  one  since  1856. 

Dr.  William  H.  Sage  introduced  homoeopathy  into  Unionville.  He 
graduated  at  the  Yale^Medical  School  in  1849,  and  settled  at  once  in 
that  place.  In  1856,  becoming  convinced  of  the  efficacy  of  the  homoe- 
opathic method,  he  adopted  it  and  has  continued  to  employ  it  ever 
since.  In  that  year  he  was  expelled  from  the  Connecticut  Medical 
Society  for  consulting  with  a  homoeopathic  physician.  Dr.  Sage  re- 
moved to  New  Haven  in  1874,  where  he  is  now  engaged  in  practice. 

Dr.  0.  B.  Freeman  introduced  homoeopathy  into  Collinsville,  practis- 
ing according  to  that  system  from  1853  to  1877,  when  he  retired.  He 
was  born  in  Canton  in  1796.  While  pursuing  his  medical  studies  he 
was  a  student  of  Dr.  Solomon  Everest,  of  Canton.  After  practising  as 
an  old-school  physician  for  a  number  of  years  in  his  native  town,  he 
removed  to  Wolcottville  in  1838,  where  he  remained  but  two  years,  when 
he  removed  to  Ohio.  He  returned  to  Collinsville  in  1847,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  practise  until  three  years  before  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1880,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four  years.  He  represented  Canton  in  the 
State  legislature  in  1862.  Although  never  exclusively  homoeopathic 
in  his  practice,  he  deserves  to  be  noticed  among  the  followers  of  the 
svstem. 


MEDICAL    HISTORY.  153 

Dr.  George  P.  Cooley  introduced  homoeopathy  into  Bristol  in  1854. 
He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  C.  A.  Taft,  of  Hartford,  and  was  the  only 
student  Dr.  Taft  ever  had.  He  graduated  at  the  Homoeopathic  Medical 
College  of  Pennsylvania  in  1854.  and  at  once  settled  in  Bristol.  He 
removed  to  New  Britain  in  1857,  and  is  now  in  practice  in  that  city. 

Dr.  James  H.  Austin  settled  in  Bristol  in  1848,  having  graduated  at 
the  Berkshire  Medical  College  in  Pittsfield  the  previous  year,  and  prac- 
tised as  an  old-school  physician  until  1858,  when,  becoming  converted 
by  the  success  which  he  saw  attend  the  use  of  homoeopathic  remedies 
in  Dr.  Cooley's  hands,  he  openly  abandoned  the  old  practice  and  took 
up  the  new,  carrying  with  him  in  the  change  many  families  hitherto 
patrons  of  the  regular  system.  He  represented  Bristol  in  the  legisla- 
ture in  1859,  and  during  the  session  made  a  forcible  and  eloquent  plea 
in  behalf  of  homoeopathy  and  the  rights  of  homoeopathic  physicians. 
In  1861  he  removed  to  New  Haven,  but  after  a  year  returned  to  Bristol 
and  remained  there  until  his  death  in  1872.  He  was  president  of  the 
Connecticut  Homoeopathic  Medical  Society  during  the  year  1868. 

Dr.  Charles  W.  Ensign  was  born  in  West  Hartland.  He  graduated 
at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  New  York,  in  1844,  and 
began  practice  in  Tariffville,  Simsbury,  the  same  year  as  an  old-school 
physician.  He  became  a  fellow  of  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society  and 
enjoyed  the  esteem  of  his  brother  practitioners,  and  was  respected  in  the 
community  in  which  he  lived.  Becoming  convinced  of  the  truth  and 
value  of  the  homoeopathic  system  in  1855,  he  openly  practised  accord- 
ing to  its  principles,  and  in  consequence  was  expelled  from  his  society. 
He  joined  the  Connecticut  Homoeopathic  Society  in  1857,  and  remained 
a  member  until  his  death.  Dr.  N.  W.  Holcombe  settled  in  Simsbury  in 
1860,  and  is  still  in  practice  there.  He  is  the  only  homoeopathic  physi- 
cian who  has  ever  resided  in  the  town. 

Dr.  Ralph  T.  Chaffee  was  the  first  homoeopathic  physician  in 
Windsor  Locks.  He  was  born  in  Wilbraham,  Mass.,  in  1824.  After 
practising  a  short  time  in  Granby  he  removed  to  Windsor  Locks  in  1850, 
but  did  not  make  use  of  the  homoeopathic  method  until  1857.  In  1865 
he  removed  to  Hartford,  but  stayed  there  only  two  years,  returning  to 
Windsor  Locks,  where  he  remained  until  1871,  when  he  again  removed 
to  Hartford.  In  1875  he  sold  his  practice  to  Dr.  P.  D.  Peltier  and  took 
up  his  residence  at  Putnam,  living  there  quietly  and  not  attempting  to 
practise.  Later  he  removed  to  Brooklyn,  New  York,  where  he  practised 
until  his  death,  in  1878. 

Although  there  was  properly  no  homoeopathic  physician  in  South- 
ington  until  1866,  yet  homoeopathy  had  made  its  way  there  in  a  manner 
that  deserves  special  mention.  In  1850  the  Rev.  Henry  J.  Hudson 
became  the  pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  and  so  continued  for  more 
than  three  years.  During  this  time  his  three  sisters  lived  with  him, 
one  of  whom  was  an  intelligent  and  enthusiastic  believer  in  homoeopa- 
thy. Such  was  her  zeal  for  the  system  and  her  desire  to  be  of  use  to 
others,  that  she  began  to  visit  and  prescribe  for  the  sick,  gladly  giving 
her  services  to  the  afflicted  without  charge,  accepting,  however,  occa- 
sional gifts  from  grateful  patients.  "Miss  Doctor  Lucy"  became  widely 
known,  loved,  and  respected  in  the  community,  and  was  looked  upon  as 
a  practitioner  of  ability,  although  without  diploma  or  regular  medical 


154  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

education.    Her  name  will  long  be  held  in  tender  remembrance  by  many 
Southington  families. 

Dr.  T.  D.  Wadsworth  was  the  first  educated  homoeopathic  physician 
to  settle  in  Southington.  He  went  there  in  1866  and  remained  about 
two  years,  when  he  removed  to  St.  Louis. 

It  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  article  to  notice  any  other 
homoeopathic  physicians  than  those  who  were  pioneers  in  that  practice, 
or  who  have  died. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


HARTFORD  IN  LITERATURE. 

BY    HENRY    A.    BEERS, 

Professor  of  English  Literature  at  Yale  College. 

HARTFORD'S  first  writer  was  its  founder,  that  notable  man  and 
leader  of  men,  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker,  "  Luther  of  New  England," 
"  Pillar  of  Connecticut  Colony,"  and  "  Light  of  the  Western 
Churches;"  of  whom  it  was  finely  said,  "He  was  a  person  who, 
while  doing  his  Master's  work,  would  put  a  king  in  his  pocket."  1 
His  writings  consist  exclusively  of  sermons,  of  which  nearly  one  hun- 
dred have  been  printed ;  and  of  tracts  and  theological  treatises,  such  as 
"A  Survey  of  the  Sum  of  Church  Discipline,"  and  "  The  Poor  Doubt- 
ing Christian  drawn  to  Christ."  They  display  that  earnestness,  rising 
on  occasion  into  a  sombre  eloquence,  and  relieved  by  a  quaint  and 
homely  fancy,  which  characterized  the  Puritan  divines  of  Old  and  New 
England.  In  Hooker,  Edwards,  and  Buslmell,  Hartford  County  may 
claim  as  its  own,  by  birth  or  adoption,  the  three  greatest  names  in 
three  successive  centuries  of  New  England  Orthodox)7.  Hooker's  writ- 
ings were  first  published  in  England,  and  have  been  only  in  part 
reprinted  in  America.2 

His  associate  in  the  ministry  at  Hartford  was  Samuel  Stone,  who 
was  likewise  the  sponsor  of  the  new  settlement,  being  himself  a  native  of 
English  Hartford.  He  printed  a  single  pamphlet,3  and  left- two  works, 
still  in  manuscript,  one  of  which  is  described  as  a  body  of  divinity,  and 
the  other  as  a  confutation  of  the  Antinomians.  He  had  reputation  as 
a  wit,  and  was  certainly  the  occasion  of  wit  in  others  ;  his  death  calling 
out  a  punning  elegy  attributed  to  Edward  Bulkley,  who  describes  the 
deceased  as  a  "  whet-stone,"  a  "  load-stone,"  and 

"  A  Stone  for  kingly  David's  use  so  fit, 
As  would  not  fail  Goliath's  front  to  Int." 

Hartford's  first  secular  writer  and  earliest  poet  was  Roger  Wolcott 
(born  at  Windsor,  Jan.  4,  1679;  died  at  Windsor,  May  17,  1767),  who 
became  a  major-general,  judge,  and  colonial  governor  of  Connecticut,  and 
founded  a  line  of  statesmen  illustrious  in  New  England  history.  Wol- 
cott's  curious  little  volume  bears  the  following  title :  "  Poetical  Medita- 

1  Life  of  Hooker  in  Mather's  Magnalia. 

2  A  list  of  Hooker's  published  works  is  given  in  an  appendix  (V.)  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Walker's  History  of  the  First  Church  in  Hartford. 

3  A  Congregational  Church  is  a  Catholike  Visible  Church.  Or  An  Examination  of  M. 
Hudson,  his  Vindication,  etc.     London:  1652. 


156  .MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

tions,  being  the  Improvement  of  some  Vacant  Hours,  by  Roger  Wolcott, 
Esq. ;  with  a  Preface  by  the  Reverend  Mr.  Bulkley  of  Colchester.  New 
London:  Printed  and  Sold  by  T.  Green,  1725."  In  the  preface  of  fifty -six 
pages  the  painful  Mr.  Bulkley  delivers  himself  on  matters  and  things 
in  general,  but  chiefly  on  the  title  of  the  Indian  aborigines  to  their  lands. 
Then  follow  a  dedication  in  verse  to  the  Rev.  Timothy  Edwards,  a  few 
poetical  meditations  on  Scripture  texts,  and  a  poem  of  sixty  pages,  en- 
titled "A  Brief  Account  of  the  Agency  of  the  Honourable  John  Win- 
throp,  Esq. ;  in  the  Court  of  King  Charles  the  Second,  Anno  Dom.  1662. 
When  he  obtained  for  the  colony  of  Connecticut  His  Majesty's  Gracious 
Charter."  The  volume  closes  with  an  "Advertisement"  by  Joseph 
Dewey,  a  Colchester  cloth-maker,  avIio,  "having  been  something  at 
charge  in  promoting  the  Publishing  the  foregoing  Meditations,"  hereby 
taketh  occasion  to  give  his  country  people  a  few  directions  toward  the 
better  preparation  of  wool  for  the  weaving. 

There  is  nothing  noteworthy  about  the  shorter  pieces  in  the  book ; 
but  the  "  Brief  Account " 1  is  of  historical  interest,  its  subject  being 
the  procuring  of  that  charter,  so  precious  in  Connecticut  tradition, 
which  Wadsworth  afterward  hid  in  the  Charter  Oak.  The  greater  part 
of  the  poem  is  in  the  form  of  episode,  Winthrop  describing  to  the  king 
the  plantation  of  the  colony  and  its  war  with  the  Pequots.  Not  much 
can  be  said  for  its  literary  merits.  The  description  of  Connecticut 
River  and  its  banks  —  a  favorite  theme  with  later  Hartford  poets  —  is 
conventional  and  untrue.  "  Philomel  high  perch't  upon  a  thorn,"  mead- 
ows enamelled  with  roses  and  violets,  elms  embraced  by  fruitful  vines, 
figure  in  the  same  landscape  with  the  beaver  and  the  mink.  The 
pragmatic  style  of  the  narrative  is  heightened  by  the  usual  classical  in- 
sipidities,—  Aurora,  Phoebus,  Cynthia,  Tithon,  Thetis,  and  Lucifer 
carrying  on  their  astronomical  operations  in  laughable  proximity  to 
the  names  of  Uncas,  Sasacus,  and  Miantinomoh.  The  burning  of 
the  Pequot  fort  at  Mystic — which  the  poet  calls  a  "castle"  and  a 
"stately  palace"  —  is  painted  with  an  epic  pomp  that  emulates  Ver- 
gil's picture  of  the  destruction  of  Troy.  In  the  recently  issued  "  Wol- 
cott Memorial " 2  is  an  autobiography  or  private  journal  of  Roger 
Wolcott,  containing  a  few  short  occasional  poems,  together  with  one 
or  two  papers  on  political  and  theological  subjects. 

Roger  Wolcott's  still  more  distinguished  grandson,  Oliver  Wolcott, 
Jr.  (born  at  Litchfield,  Jan.  11, 1760  ;  died  at  New  York,  June  1,  1833) 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  Washington  and  Adams,  seems  to  have 
inherited  the  desire  at  least  of  writing  verses.  During  his  residence  at 
Hartford  from  1781  to  1789,  he  became  intimate  with  Trumbull,  Hop- 
kins, Barlow,  and  Noah  Webster ;  and,  seduced  perhaps  by  the  exam- 
ple of  Barlow,  "  achieved,"  to  use  his  biographer's  word,  a  number  of 
poems,  still  in  manuscript,  —  among  which  was  one  on  "  The  Vision  of 
Paris,"  which  "  would  be  much  worse  than  Barlow's  epic,  if  it  were  not 
much  shorter."  The  Hon.  Joseph  Hopkinson,  of  Philadelphia,  reports 
him  as  having  a  good  taste  in  literature,  with  one  exception,  namely, 
"  an  excessive  admiration  of  Dr.  D  wight's  '  Conquest  of  Canaan.' "  His 
letters  and  State  papers,  edited  by  his  grandson,  are  among  the  most 

1  Reprinted  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  vol.  iv.  p.  262. 

2  Memorial  of  Henry  Wolcott  and  some  of  His  Descendants.  By  Samuel  Wolcott. 
Printed  for  private  distribution.     New  York  :  Anson  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Co.,  1881. 


HARTFORD   IN    LITERATURE.  157 

valuable  sources  of  American  history  for  the  period  which  they  cover.1 
He  left  over  fifty  folio  volumes  in  manuscript  (now  deposited  with  the 
Connecticut  Historical  Society),  further  selections  from  which  are 
promised  to  the  public. 

Jonathan  Edwards  (born  at  East  Windsor,  Oct.  5,  1703 ;  died  at 
Princeton,  N.  J.,  March  22, 1758)  ;  the  greatest  of  American  theologians 
and  metaphysicians,  the  author  of  the  famous  "  Essay  on  the  Freedom 
of  the  Will,"  and  the  hardly  less  famous  "  Treatise  on  Religious  Affec- 
tions," Avas  a  native  of  Hartford  County  ;  though  his  literary  work  was 
done  elsewhere,  and  mainly  at  Northampton  and  Stockbridge,  Mass. 
From  his  thirteenth  year,  when  he  entered  Yale,  he  was  almost  con- 
tinuously absent  from  the  home  of  his  boyhood. 

The  Golden  Age  of  literature  in  Hartford  was  during  and  imme- 
diately following  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  when  for  a  brief  period  the 
little  provincial  capital  became  the  intellectual  metropolis  of  the  coun- 
try, and  a  focus  of  political  influence  hardly  less  important  than  Boston, 
New  York,  or  Philadelphia.  This  temporary  eminence  it  owed  to  the 
presence  of  a  society  of  clever  Avriters,  known  as  the  Hartford  Wits, 
who  took  up  their  residence  there  almost  simultaneously.  John  Trum- 
bull came  to  Hartford  in  1781,  Lemuel  Hopkins  in  1784,  and  about  the 
same  time  Richard  Alsop  opened  his  bookstore  and  Joel  Barlow  es- 
tablished his  weekly  gazette,  the  "  American  Mercury."  Colonel  David 
Humphreys  was  much  at  Hartford  in  1786-1787,  and  Dr.  Elilm  H. 
Smith  (who  published  at  Litchfield,  in  1793,  the  first  miscellany  of 
American  poetry)  was  then  resident  at  Wethersfield.  Theodore  Dwight, 
the  elder,  who  became  Alsop's  brother-in-law,  belonged  also  to  this  group. 

None  of  this  company  of  wits  and  poets  was  a  native  of  the  county ; 
nor,  with  the  exception  of  Trumbull  and  Hopkins,  did  any  of  them  re- 
main long  at  Hartford.  But  during  the  few  years  that  they  were  there 
together,  a  club  holding  weekly  meetings  for  social  and  literary  com- 
munion, they  represented  a  concentration  of  talent  such  as  had  not 
hitherto  existed  in  any  American  town. 

John  Trumbull  was  perhaps  more  completely  identified  with  Hart- 
ford than  any  of  the  others.  He  was  born  at  Westbury  (now  Water- 
town),  April  24,  1750,  and  had  made  a  reputation  as  a  wit  by  his 
college  satire,  "  The  Progress  of  Dulness,"  and  by  the  first  part  of  "  Mc- 
Fingal,"  published  at  Philadelphia  in  1775,  and  afterward  made  over 
into  the  first  two  cantos  of  the  poem  as  it  now  stands.  But  it  was  at 
Hartford  that  "  McFingal "  was  finished  ;  and  the  first  edition  was  pub- 
lished there  by  subscription  in  1782.  It  came  so  pat  to  the  occasion, 
and  so  hit  the  humor  of  the  day,  that  it  gained  immediate  popularity, 
and  ran  quickly  through  more  than  thirty  American  editions,2  to  say 

1  Memoirs  of  the  Administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams.  Edited  from  the  papers  of 
Oliver  Wolcott,  by  George  Gibbs.     New  York,  1846. 

-  There  being  at  the  time  no  copyright  law,  "the  poem  remained  the  property  of  news- 
mongers, hawkers,  pedlers,  and  petty  chapmen."  The  pirating  of  "McFingal"  led  to  the 
passage  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  in  1783,  of  an  "Act  for  the  Encouragement 
of  Literature  and  Genius,"  which  secured  to  authors  their  copyright  within  the  State.  The 
personal  exertions  of  Noah  Webster  in  defence  of  his  spelling-book  led  to  the  passage  of  simi- 
lar laws  by  the  legislatures  of  other  States,  and  finally  to  the  passage  of  a  general  law  by  Con- 
gress, modelled  on  the  Connecticut  act  of  1783.  See  a  paper  by  the  Hon.  J.  Hammond 
Trumbull  on  "  The  Origin  of  McFingal,"  contributed  to  the  "  Historical  Magazine  "  for  Janu- 
ary, 1868,  second  series,  vol.  iii. 


158  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

nothing  of  several  impressions  in  England.  "  McFingal "  was  a  mock 
heroic  in  four  cantos,  ridiculing  the  British  and  the  American  tories  in 
smart  Hudibrastic  doggerel.  The  hero,  one  Squire  McFingal,  a  tory 
of  Scotch  descent,  sallies  forth  to  cut  down  an  obnoxious  liberty-pole  ; 
but  is  tarred,  feathered,  and  carted  by  a  mob  of  whigs,  and  finally  takes 
flight  to  the  royal  army  at  Boston.  The  nucleus  of  the  poem  was  a 
burlesque  in  rhyme  of  one  of  Gage's  proclamations,  contributed  by 
Trumbull  to  the  "  Connecticut  Courant"  of  Aug.  7  and  14,  1775.  This 
famous  Revolutionary  epic  is  certainly  the  most  successful  of  the  many 
imitations  of  "  Hudibras."  The  coarse,  vigorous  wit  of  Butler,  his  apt- 
ness in  figure  and  allusion,  and  his  pithy  proverbial  style,  are  cleverly 
reproduced.  Several  current  quotations  from  "  McFingal "  are  often 
mistakenly  credited  to  "Hudibras,"  such  as  the  couplet 

"No  man  e'er  felt  the  halter  draw 
With  good  opinion  of  the  law  ;  " 

and  this, — 

"  But  optics  sharp  it  needs,  I  ween, 
To  see  what  is  not  to  be  seen." 

Time  has  a  little  blunted  the  edge  of  "  McFingal,"  yet  it  remains  the 
best  of  American  political  satires  in  verse,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  the  "  Biglow  Papers."  The  first  edition  of  Trumbull's  collected 
poems 1  was  published  at  Hartford  in  1820,  with  a  memoir  of  the  author, 
an  engraving  from  his  portrait  painted  by  Colonel  John  Trumbull  in 
1793,  and  plates  from  humorous  designs  by  Elkanah  Tisdale,  the  Hart- 
ford miniature-painter.  His  serious  poems  include  several  elegies  and 
Pindaric  odes  in  the  manner  of  Gray,  but  of  no  great  merit.  During 
the  years  1789-1819  Trumbull  took  an  active  part  in  public  life.  He 
was  at  different  times  State  Attorney  for  Hartford  County,  Repre- 
sentative of  Hartford  town  in  the  State  Legislature,  Judge  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court  and  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Errors.  In  1825  he  removed 
to  Detroit,  where  he  died  May  12,  1831. 

Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins  (born  at  Waterbury,  June  19,  1750 ;  died  at 
Hartford,  April  14, 1801)  was  a  distinguished  physician,  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society.  Many  of  his  squibs  and 
occasional  verses,  like  Dr.  Holmes's  "  medicated  novels,"  bespeak  the 
physician.  Such  are,  for  example,  his  "  Epitaph  on  a  Patient  killed  by 
a  Cancer  Quack,"  and  his  lines  on  "  The  Yellow  Fever  in  New  York 
in  1798."  He  was  above  all  things  a  humorist.  "  The  bludgeon  satir- 
ist," he  is  called  by  Goodrich,  who  gives  the  following  sketch  of  him 
from  report :  "  He  left  a  strong  impression  upon  the  public  mind,  as 
well  by  the  eccentricity  of  his  personal  appearance  and  habits,  as  by  his 
learning  and  genius.  He  was  often  described  to  me  as  long  and  lank, 
walking  with  spreading  arms  and  straddling  legs.  His  nose  was  long, 
lean,  and  flexible,  his  eyes  protruding,  and-  his  whole  expression  a 
si  range  mixture  of  solemnity  and  drollery." 

No  edition  of  Dr.  Hopkins's  collected  poems  has  ever  been  published. 
They  consisted  in  great  part  of  contributions  to  the  "  Anarchiad," 
the  "  Political  Green-House,"  and  the  "  Echo,"  which  were  serial 
satires,  in  verse,  by  the  Hartford  wits.     The  first   of    these  was  the 

1  The  Poetical  Works  of  John  Trumbull,  LL.D.  In  two  volumes.  Hartford.  Printed  for 
Samuel  G.  Goodrich  by  Lincoln  and  Stone,  1820. 


HARTFORD   IN   LITERATURE.  159 

" Anarchiad,"  extending  to  twelve  numbers,  and  printed  in  the  "New 
Haven  Gazette  and  Connecticut  Magazine"  during  the  years  1786 
and  1787.  It  was  written  by  Trumbull,  Hopkins,  Humphreys,  and 
Barlow  in  concert.  The  plan  was  suggested  by  Colonel  Humphreys, 
and  was  something  like  that  of  the  English  "  Rolliad."  The  sat- 
irists of  the  "  Anarchiad  "  addressed  themselves  to  rebuke  the  spirit 
of  lawlessness  which  broke  out  during  the  period  of  confusion  that 
followed  the  signing  of  peace  in  1783,  when  Democratic  mobs,  in 
Connecticut  and  elsewhere,  opposed  the  grant  of  five  years'  pay  to 
the  officers  of  the  regular  army.  The  statesmen  of  Connecticut  were 
stanch  Federalists  ;  and  Hartford  now  became,  and  continued  for 
some  twenty  years,  the  literary  headquarters  of  that  Conservative 
party  which  favored  a  strong  general  government  and  opposed  French 
democracy.1 

The  papers  of  the  "  Anarchiad  " —  which  have  been  collected  into 
a  volume2  —  are  imaginary  extracts  from  an  epic  poem  in  twenty- 
four  books,  "  On  the  Restoration  of  Chaos  and  Substantial  Night,"  dug 
out  of  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  Indian  fort,  —  a  relic  of  the  mythical  Welsh 
colony  planted  in  America  by  Madoc.  It  is  not  easy  to  identify  the 
work  of  the  several  authors. 

To  the  series  of  social  and  political  satires  which  passed  under  the 
general  name  of  the  "  Echo,"  Dr.  Hopkins  contributed  the  "  New 
Year's  Verses,"  originally  printed  in  the  "Connecticut  Courant "  of 
Jan.  1,  1795;  the  verses  entitled  "  Guillotina," 3  and  a  part  of  the 
"  Political  Green-House,"  first  issued  in  pamphlet  form,  Jan.  1,  1799. 
A  few  lines  in  this  series  were  written  by  Drs.  Mason  F.  Cogswell  and 
Elihu  H.  Smith.  With  these  exceptions  the  entire  work  was  the  pro- 
duction of  Richard  Alsop  and  Theodore  D wight,  Sr.  The  first  number 
was  written  at  Middletown,  but  printed  at  Hartford,  Aug.  8,  1791,  in 
the  "  American  Mercury,"  —  Barlow's  paper,  which  he  had,  however, 
resigned  the  management  of  in  1787.  In  this  paper  the  greater  part  of 
the  series  appeared  ;  the  last  number  being  of  the  date  March  4,  1805. 
—  a  burlesque  of  President  Jefferson's  Inaugural.  In  1807  the  twenty 
numbers  of  the  "  Echo,"  together  with  the  "  Political  Green-House," 
"  Democracy,"  "  New  Year's  Verses,"  "  Symptoms  of  the  Millennium," 
"  Sketches  of  the  Times,"  etc.,  were  published  at  New  York,  in  a  single 
volume,  with  preface,  index,  and  supplementary  notes,  and  seven  en- 
gravings from  capital  humorous  designs  by  Tisdale.4 

The  "  Echo  "  was  a  sort  of  Yankee  "  Dunciad."  Starting  with 
the  parody  of  a  bombastic  description  of  a  thunder-storm  in  one  of  the 
Boston  papers,  it  caught  up  and  prolonged  the  various  humors  of  the 

1  See  a  parody  in  the  "Echo,"  No.  12,  of  a  Democratic  attack  upon  the  "Federal  Printers 
in  the  Eastern  States,"  published  over  the  signature  of  "Mirabeau,"  in  a  Philadelphia  jour- 
nal, in  1793  :  — 

"  Hartford  !  curst  corner  of  the  spacious  eartli ! 
Where  each  dire  mischief  ripens  into  birth  .  .  . 
Hartford,  detested  more  by  faction's  race 
Than  hardened  sinner  hates  the  call  of  grace,"  etc. 

2  The  Anarchiad.  With  Notes  and  Appendices  by  Luther  G.  Riggs.  New  Haven  : 
T.  H.  Pease,  1861. 

3  Published  as  the  "News-Boy's  Address,"  for  the  "  Courant,"  Jan.  1,  1796,  and  verses 
under  the  same  title,  for  Jan.  1,  1797,  1798,  1799,  are  probably  from  his  pen. 

4  The  titlepage  reads  simply,  "The  Echo.  Printed  at  the  Porcupine  Press,  by  Pasquin 
Petronius." 


160  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

day,  —  now  travestying  a  speech  of  Jefferson  or  Hancock,  now  turning 
into  burlesque  a  Boston  town-meeting,  or  an  article  by  Brackenridge 
on  the  Indian  question.  Its  objects  were  mainly  political,  but  it  some- 
times stooped  at  smaller  prey.  Thus,  one  John  Monier,  having  adver- 
tised a  school  for  boys  at  New  York,  which  was  to  have  "  a  very 
healthy,  desirable  stand,  near  perhaps  to  the  Israelitish  Burying- 
Ground,"   "Echo"  inquires, — 

"  What  air  more  fragrant  to  a  Christian  nose 
Than  from  the  mouldering  Hebrew  daily  flows  ? 
What  scene  more  pleasing  to  a  Christian  eye 
Than  where  the  sons  of  circumcision  lie  ?  " 

Nor  is  there  wanting,  on  occasion,  that  audacious  exaggeration  and  ir- 
reverence said  to  form  the  staple  of  American  humor,  as,  for  example, 
in  this  forcible  equivalent  for  carrying  coals  to  Newcastle  :  — 

"  'T  were  nonsense  all,  —  we  might  expect  as  well 
To  retail  brimstone  from  a  store  in  hell." 

A  local  flavor  is  given  to  many  of  the  papers  by  allusions  to  matters 
famous  in  Connecticut  tradition,  —  Captain  Kidd,  the  Blue  Laws,  the 
Windham  Frogs,  the  Hebron  Pump,  etc.  A  passage  from  the  "  Politi- 
cal Green-House  "  was  quoted  in  Congress,  in  January,  1799,  by  the 
Hon.  John  Nicholas,  of  Virginia,  in  proof  of  Connecticut's  desire  for  a 
war  with  France.1 

One  of  the  "  Echo "  poets,  Theodore  Dwight  the  elder  (born  at 
Northampton,  Mass.,  Dec.  16, 1764;  died  at  New  York,  June  11,  1846), 
established  at  Hartford,  in  1809,  the  "  Connecticut  Mirror,"  which  he 
edited  until  1815.  He  was  secretary  of  the  famous  Hartford  Convention 
in  1814,  a  history  of  which  he  published  in  1833.  He  served  one  term 
in  Congress  in  1806-1807.  From  1817-1835  he  conducted  the  New 
York  "Daily  Advertiser."  In  the  latter  year  he  removed  to  Hartford, 
but  subsequently  returned  to  New  York.  His  publications  include 
"Open  Convents,"  1836;  "Character  of  Thomas  Jefferson,"  1839; 
and  a  "Dictionary  of  Roots  and  Derivations.*1  Some  poems  by 
Dwight  are  included  in  Dr.  Smith's  Litchfield  Collection  of  1793  ;  and 
others,  of  a  satirical  kind,  are  given  by  Goodrich  in  his  "Recollec- 
tions." A  hymn  of  his  composition,  sung  at  Hartford,  Dec.  27,  1799, 
on  the  occasion  of  Washington's  death,  made  a  strong  impression  at  the 
time,  and  has  been  often  reprinted. 

Of  Joel  Barlow's  meteoric  career  but  a  short  arc  belongs  to  the 
history  of  Hartford.  His  fine  version  of  the  137th  Psalm,  "  The  Baby- 
lonian Captivity,"  was  written  at  Hartford,  and  published  in  1785,  in  a 
revised  edition  of  Watts,  undertaken  at  the  request  of  the  General 
Association  of  the  Clergy  of  Connecticut.2  At  Hartford,  too,  was  com- 
pleted and,  in  1787,  published,  the  "  Vision  of  Columbus,"  afterward 
expanded  into  the  "  Columbiad,"  printed  at  Philadelphia  in  1808.  The 
"  Vision  "  was  published  by  subscription,3  and  subsequently  reprinted 
in  London  and  Paris.     Barlow  left  Hartford  in  1788. 

i  Seethe  "Echo/'  pp.  2:.9-266. 

2  Dr.  Watts's  Imitation  of  the  Psalms  of  David.  Corrected  and  enlarged  by  Joel  Barlow. 
Hartford.     Printed  by  Barlow  &  Babcoek,   1785. 

3  The  Vision  of  Columbus.  A  Poem  in  Nine  Books.  By  Joel  Barlow,  Esq.,  Hartford. 
Printed  by  Hudson  &  Goodwin,  for  the  Author,  17S7. 


HARTFORD   IN   LITERATURE.  161 

The  "  Vision  of  Columbus "  was  a  poem  once  greatly  admired. 
Barlow,  and  Timothy  I) wight  in  his  "  Conquest  of  Canaan,"  were 
thought  to  have  domesticated  the  epic  muse  in  America.  But  it  would 
make  a  strong  draft  on  the  reader's  patriotism  to  get  through  either  of 
these  works  to-day.  The  "  Vision "  is  written  in  the  rhymed  heroics 
of  Pope,  and  abounds  in  the  vague,  glittering  imagery,  the  false  sub- 
lime, the  stilted  diction,  and  monotonous  verse  which  marked  the  decay 
of  the  so-called  "  classical "  school  of  English  poetry  in  the  last  cen- 
tury. It  tells  how  an  angel  appeared  to  Columbus  in  prison,  and  led 
him  to  the  top  of  a  hill  of  vision,  whence  he  saw  the  American  continents 
outspread  before  him,  and  the  panorama  of  their  future  history  un- 
rolled ;  the  conquest  of  Mexico  by  Cortez ;  the  rise  and  destruction 
of  the  kingdom  of  the  Incas ;  the  settlement  of  North  America ;  the 
French  and  English  wars  and  the  War  of  the  Revolution  ;  the  future 
progress  of  civilization  in  America  and  over  the  world  ;  ending  with  a 
prophecy  of  universal  peace,  and  a  "  general  council  of  all  nations,"  in 
a  passage  which  will  remind  the  modern  reader  of  Tennyson's  "  Par- 
liament of  Man,  the  Federation  of  the  World."  The  machinery 
of  the  "  Vision  "  is  evidently  borrowed  from  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
books  of  "  Paradise  Lost."  A  solitary  allusion  to  the  city  of  its  pub- 
lication may  be  quoted  here  :  — 

"  Thy  parent  stream,  fair  Hartford,  met  his  eye, 
Far  lessening  upward  to  the  northern  sky  ; 
No  watery  gleams  through  happier  valleys  shine, 
Nor  drinks  the  sea  a  lovelier  wave  than  thine." 

In  1811  Samuel  Griswold  Goodrich,  "  Peter  Parley  "  (born  at  Ridsre- 
field,  Aug.  19, 1793  ;  died  at  New  York,  May  9, 1860),  came  to  Hartford, 
where  he  carried  on  business  as  a  bookseller  and  publisher  during  the 
years  1816-1822.  His  "  Recollections  " 1  contain  much  interesting  in- 
formation about  the  state  of  literature  and  taste  at  Hartford  during  the 
first  generation  of  this  century.  "  In  my  time,"  he  writes,  "  Hopkins 
was  dead,  Trumbull  had  left  off  poetry  for  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  Dwight  was  devoted  to  the  '  Connecticut  Mirror.' 
.  .  .  Hartford  was  then  a  small  commercial  town  of  four  thousand 
inhabitants,  dealing  in  lumber,  and  smelling  of  molasses  and  old  Ja- 
maica, for  it  had  still  some  trade  with  the  West  Indies.  .  .  .  There 
was  a  high  tone  of  general  intelligence  and  social  respectability 
about  the  place;  but  it  had  not  a  single  institution,  a  single  monu- 
ment that  marked  it  as  even  a  provincial  metropolis  of  taste  in  lit- 
erature, art,  or  refinement.  Though  the  semi-capital  of  the  State,  it 
was  strongly  impressed  with  a  plodding,  mercantile,  and  mechanical 
character." 

During  Goodrich's  residence  at  Hartford  he  belonged  to  a  literary 
club,  which  included  among  its  members  Bishop  J.  M.  Wainwright,  the 
Hon.  Isaac  Toucey,  Judge  Samuel  H.  Huntington,  Jonathan  Law,  and 
Colonel  William  L.  Stone.  The  last  mentioned  of  these  (born  at 
Esopus,  New  York,  April  20,  1793 ;  died  at  Saratoga,  Aug.  15,  1844) 
had  succeeded  Dwight,  in  1816,  in  the  management  of  the  "  Connecti- 
cut Mirror."  He  was  afterward  (1821-1844)  editor  of  the  New  York 
"  Commercial  Advertiser,"  and  well  known  as  an  author  by  his  "  Life 

1  Recollections  of  a  Lifetime.     By  S.  G.  Goodrich.     New  York  and  Auburn,  1356. 
VOL.    I.  — 11. 


162 


MEMORIAL   HISTOEY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


of  Joseph  Brant,"  "  Life  and  Times  of  Red  Jacket,"  "  Poetry  and 
History  of  Wyoming,"  "  Uncas  and  Miantonomoh,"  and  other  works. 
Mr.  Goodrich  issued  three  or  four  numbers  of  the  "  Round  Table," 
composed  of  articles  written  by  members  of  this  club.  Among  his 
publications  were  a  number  of  educational  works  by  Hartford  authors, 
such  as  Woodbridge's  "  School  Geography,"  Dr.  Comstock's  text-books 

in  natural  science,  and  a  "  History  of 
the  United  States,"  by  the  publisher's 
brother,  the  Rev.  Charles  A.  Goodrich. 
He  published  also  a  partial  edition  of 
the  Waverley  Novels,  in  eight  volumes. 
"  American  literature,"  he  says,  "  was 
then  at  a  low  ebb.     It  was  positively 
injurious  to  the  commercial  credit    of 
a   bookseller    to    undertake    American 
works."      He    adds,   incidentally,   that 
one     Hartford     publisher     refused     to 
be  concerned  in  stereotyping  Byron's 
poems    because    of    their    immorality. 
Goodrich   himself   began  to    write   po- 
etry   while    at    Hartford,    though    no 
edition  of  his  poems  was  issued  until 
1836.1     In  1827   Goodrich  removed  to 
Boston,  where   he  established   himself 
as  a  publisher ;    putting  forth,  among 
other  things,   his  very   popular   series 
of  "  Peter  Parley "   books  for  the  in- 
struction    of    the 
young,    and    edit- 
ing the  "Token," 
—  an     annual    in 
which     many     of 
Hawthorne's  tales 
were    first     given 
to  the  world.     He 
was   at   one  time   United    States   Consul    at   Paris. 

First  in  order  of  time  on  the  list  of  Hartford's  female  writers  is 
Mrs.  Willard,  nee  Emma  Hart  (born  at  Berlin,  Feb.  23,  1787  ;  died  at 
Troy,  New  York,  April  15,  1870),  whose  long  and  useful  life  was 
devoted  to  the  improvement  of  women's  education.  Beginning  in  her 
native  town  as  a  school-teacher  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  she  taught  subse- 
quently in  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  and  New  York  States,  but  became 
specially  identified  with  the  city  of  Troy,  where  she  conducted  a  famous 
seminary  for  young  ladies  during  the  years  1821-1838.  In  the  latter 
year  she  resigned  the  charge  of  her  seminary. and  came  to  Hartford  to 
reside.  Her  publications  include  a  large  number  of  text-books  and 
manuals  in  history,  geography,  astronomy,  etc.,  the  total  sales  of  which 
amounted  to  a  million  at  the  time  of  her  death.  Her  most  original 
contribution  to  science  was  a  "  Treatise  on  the  Motive  Powers  which 
produce  the  Circulation  of  the  Blood,"  1846.     In  1830  she  announced 


Oo^^i 


»  The  Outcast,  and  other  Poems.    Boston,  1836. 


HARTFORD   IN   LITERATURE. 


163 


MKS.    EMMA    WILLABD. 


the  publication  at  Hartford  of  a  volume  of  poems  ;  but  the  edition  was 
suppressed  in  consequence  of  unauthorized  alterations  in  the  manu- 
script, and  the  poems  were  reissued  at  New  York  in  1831.  The  best 
known  of  her  poems  is  the  "  Ocean  Hymn,"  —  "  Rocked  in  the  cradle 
of  the  deep."  "  Bride-Stealing,"  re- 
printed m  Everest's  "  Poets  of  Con- 
nect;cut,"  is  an  idyl  of  old  New 
England  life  read  at  an  "  old  folks' 
party  "  in  Farmington  in  1840,  in  cele- 
bration of  the  second  centennial  of  the 
town's  settlement.  Her  "  Journal  and 
Letters  from  France  and  Great  Britain" 
was  published  at  Troy  in  1833. 

In  Mrs.  Sigourney,  nee  Lydia  Hunt- 
ley (born  at  Norwich,  Sept.  1,  1791 ; 
died  at  Hartford,  June  10, 1865),  Hart- 
ford had  a  poetess  of  higher  preten- 
sions, who  enjoyed  in  her  day  a  vogue 
which  the  present  generation  finds  it 
hard  to  account  for.  Educated  in  part 
at  Hartford  schools,  she  came  there  for 
life  in  1814,  and  opened  a  select  semi- 
nary for  young  ladies.  In  1815  she 
published  at  Hartford  her   first  book, 

"  Moral  Pieces  in  Prose  and  Verse,"  which  was  followed  by  nearly 
sixty  volumes  in  as  many  years,  ending  with  "  Letters  of  Life," 
printed  posthumously  in  1866.  Mrs.  Sigourney  was  sometimes  called 
"  the  Hemans  of  America."  She  belonged  to  the  era  of  the  annuals, 
—  that  period  of  our  literary  history  when  a  poet  was  styled  a  "  bard  " 
and  his  poem  an  "  effusion."  Her  "  Moral  Pieces  "  were  addressed 
to  her  pupils,  and  the  atmosphere  of  the  young  ladies'  seminary  al- 
ways continued  to  hang  about  her  writing,  which  has  a  kind  of  prim 
elegance  in  style  and  sentiment.  An  extraordinarily  large  proportion 
of  her  pieces  were  of  the  occasional  order.  "  Death  of  an  Infant," 
"  Consecration  of  a  Church,"  "  Exhibition  of  a  School  of  Young  La- 
dies," "  Baptism  of  an  Infant  at  its  Mother's  Funeral,"  and  similar 
titles  occur  with  almost  ludicrous  frequency.  Indian  subjects  attracted 
her  strongly,  and  her  most  ambitious  poems  were  "  Pocahontas,"  1841, 
and  "  Traits  of  the  Aborigines,"  a  poem  in  4000  lines  of  very  blank 
verse,  published  at  Cambridge,  1822.  "  Past  Meridian,"  a  prose  volume 
inspired  by  a  reading  of  Cicero's  "  De  Senectute,"  is  Mrs.  Sigourney's 
strongest  work,  and  will  form  perhaps  her  best  title  to  remembrance. 
She  had  the  honor  of  republication  in  England,  where  a  volume  of 
selections  from  her  poetry  was  printed  in  1848  under  the  name  of 
"The  Coronal."' 

James  Gates  Percival  (born  at  Berlin,  Sept.    15,  1795 ;    died  at 
Hazelgreen,  Illinois,  May  2,  1856)  may  be  reckoned  among  the  poets  of 


1  Thackeray  seems  to  have  been  acquainted  with  Mr 
this  bit  of  parody  :   "As  Mrs.  Sigourney  sweetly  sings  :  — 


Sigourney's  poetry,  to  judge  from 


'  Oh  the  soul  is  a  soft  and  a  delicate  thing  : 
The  soul  is  a  lute  with  a  thrilling  string, 
A  spirit  that  floats  on  a  gossamer's  wing.'  " 


164  MEMORIAL  HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

Hartford  Count}',  though,  as  between  the  two  capitals  of  the  State,  he 
gravitated  decidedly  toward  New  Haven.  After  1810,  when  he  entered 
college,  he  returned  only  at  intervals  to  his  birthplace,  and  never  to 
make  a  long  stay.  From  1829  until  his  departure  for  Wisconsin  in 
1854,  he  resided  continuously  at  New  Haven.  PercivaPs  biographer, 
Mr.  Ward,  describes  a  visit  which  he  made  to  Hartford  in  1815,1  and  his 
entree  into  the  literary  society  of  the  town.  He  had  prepared  himself, 
it  seems,  to  "  talk  elaborately  on  particular  topics,"  and  "  at  social 
gatherings  he  talked  at  great  length  on  single  subjects  "  in  an  inaudible 
tone,  and  with  results  disastrous  to  his  popularity.  "  He  came  away  in 
disgust,"  and  shortly  after  launched  at  the  ungrateful  city  that  "  Impre- 
cation "  which  so  greatly  amused  Mr.  Lowell :  — 

"Ismir  !  fare  thee  well  forever  ! 
From  thy  walls  with  joy  I  go. 
Every  tie  I  freely  sever, 
Flying  from  thy  den  of  woe." 

The  first  edition  of  PercivaPs  poems  was  printed  at  New  Haven  in 
1821,  and  contained  some  pieces  written  at  Berlin,  —  notably  the 
Byronic  verses  entitled  "  The  Suicide,"  —  which  Hartford  County  may 
therefore  lay  claim  to,  if  so  disposed.  The  genius  of  this  shy,  eccentric 
scholar  is  matter  of  tradition.  His  learning  was  large  but  unfruitful. 
His  poetry,  except  a  few  favorite  pieces,  such  as  "  The  Coral  Grove  "  and 
"  To  Seneca  Lake,"  was  singularly  unsubstantial,  —  abstract  in  theme, 
wearisomely  diffuse  in  diction,  and  without  solidity  or  edge.  Perhaps 
his  most  valuable  work  is  his  "  Report  of  the  Geology  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut,"  of  which  Professor  James  D.  Dana,  our  highest  authority, 
speaks  with  respect. 

From  1822  to  1827  Hartford  had  a  genuine  poet  in  the  person  of 
John  Gardner  Calkins  Brainard  (born  Oct.  21,  1796,  at  New  London  ; 
died  Sept.  26,  1828,  at  New  London).  Brainard  was  a  classmate  of 
Percival  at  Yale.  He  came  to  Hartford  to  take  charge  of  the  "  Mirror," 
which  he  edited  until  about  a  year  and  a  half  before  his  early  death  by 
consumption.  His  poems  were  mostly  thrown  off  in  a  hurry,  under  the 
pressure  of  demands  for  copy,  and  printed  without  revision  in  the  col- 
umns of  his  newspaper.  The  first  edition  of  his  collected  poems  was 
published  at  New  York  in  1825.  A  second  edition,  with  some  fifty 
pieces  added,  appeared  at  Hartford  in  1832.  The  biographical  sketch 
of  the  poet  in  this  edition,  written  by  his  friend  Whittier,  was  warmly 
appreciative  ;  but  the  typographical  appearance  of  the  book  was  shabby, 
and  it  contained  a  number  of  poems  not  written  by  Brainard.2  A  final 
edition  was  published  in  1842.3  Brainard's  work  is  uneven,  but  it  is 
the  work  of  a  born  poet.  The  fragment  on  "  The  Fall  of  Niagara  "  con- 
tains blank  verse  not  unworthy  of  Bryant ;  and  there  is  a  natural  lyrical 

1  The  Life  and  Letters  of  James  Gates  Percival,  by  Julius  H.  Ward.     Boston,  1866. 

2  The  Literary  Remains  of  John  G.  C.  Brainard,  with  a  Sketch  of  his  Life,  by  J.  G. 
Whittier.     Hartford.     Published  by  P.  B.  Goodsell,  1832. 

3  The  Poems  of  John  G.  0.  Brainard.  A  New  and  Authentic  Collection.  Hartford. 
S.  Andrus  &  Son,  1842.  The  editor  was  Edward  Hopkins.  The  memoir  was  contributed  by 
the  Bev.  Royal  Bobbins,  of  Berlin.  The  edition  contained  a  portrait  of  the  poet,  engraved  by 
Yj.  Gallaudet  from  an  unfinished  pencil-sketch  by  Wentworth;  together  with  a  vignette  title 
from  a  delicate  design  by  S.  W.  Cheney,  the  Hartford  artist.  The  little  volume  was 
throughout  the  work  of  "  home  talent,"  and  was  a  credit  to  the  city  in  contents  and  mechanical 
execution. 


HARTFORD   IN   LITERATURE.  165 

impulse  in  some  of  the  songs,  such  as  the  "  Sea-Bird's  Song,"  and  the 
"  Stanzas  "  beginning,  "  The  dead  leaves  strew  the  forest  walk."  What 
is  equally  to  the  purpose,  is  to  notice  that  Brainard  is  the  Hartford  poet, 
or,  rather,  the  poet  of  the  Connecticut  Valley.  The  pieces  entitled 
"  Matchit  Moodus,"  "  The  Shad  Spirit,"  "  Connecticut  River,"  "  The 
Black  Fox  of  Salmon  River,"  and  others,  deal  with  local  legends  and 
associations.  The  lines  on  "  Connecticut  River,"  in  which  Brainard 
alludes  to  Trumbull,  are  quite  as  applicable  to  himself :  — 

"Thou  hadst  a  poet  once,  and  he  could  tell 
Most  tunefulty  whate'er  to  thee  befell  : 
Could  till  each  pastoral  reed  upon  thy  shore."  • 

Theodore  Dwight  the  younger  (born  at  Hartford,  March  3,  1796 ; 
died  at  Brooklyn,  Oct.  16,  1866),  was  a  son  of  the  "Echo  "  poet.  He 
went  to  Brooklyn  in  1833  to  help  his  father  in  conducting  the  New 
York  "  Daily  Advertiser,"  and  his  writings  belong  more  to  the  litera- 
ture of  that  city  than  of  Hartford.  They  include  a  "  History  of  Con- 
necticut," 1811  ;  "  A  Summer  Tour  in  the  Northern  and  Middle 
States,"  1847;  a  "Life  of  Garibaldi,"  1859;  and  other  works  in 
prose,  besides  many  uncollected  poems,  a  few  of  which  are  given  in 
Everest. 

George  Denison  Prentice  (born  at  Preston,  Dec.  18,  1802 ;  died  at 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  Jan.  22,  1870),  the  brilliant  editor  of  the  "  Louis- 
ville Journal,"  and  one  of  the  wittiest  of  American  newspaper  para- 
graphists,  began  his  long  career  as  a  journalist  in  Hartford,  where  he 
conducted  the  "  New  England  Review"  from  the  fall  of  1828  until  the 
summer  of  1830.  In  this  weekly  paper  many  of  his  poems  made  their 
first  appearance  ; 2  and  the  "  Review,"  under  his  management,  gained  a 
wide  reputation.  In  1830  he  went  to  Kentucky  to  write  a  life  of  Henry 
Clay,  for  campaign  use  in  New  England.  This  was  hastily  written,  and 
published  at  Hartford  in  1831.3  The  preface  was  dated  at  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  Nov.  14,  1830.  On  the  24th  of  the  same  month  the  first 
number  of  the  "  Louisville  Journal "  was  issued,  with  Mr.  Prentice  as 
editor. 

By  Mr.  Prentice's  own  recommendation  he  was  succeeded  on  the 
"New  England  Review"  by  John  Greenleaf  Whitticr,  then  a  young  , 
man  of  twenty-two,  who  had  attracted  the  former's  attention  by  the  * 
verses  which  he  had  sent  to  the  "  Review  "  from  Boston.  Mr.  Wh'ittier 
resigned  his  position  in  1831.  His  contributions  to  the  literature  of 
Hartford  consist,  besides  his  work  on  the  "  Review,"  of  the  memoir  of 
Brainard,  already  mentioned,  and  a  small  volume  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-two  pages  in  prose  and  verse  entitled  "Legends  of  New  England."4 
These  first-fruits  of  the  Quaker  poet  hardly  foretoken  the  future  Whit- 
tier,  except  in  a  fondness  for  Indian  and  colonial  legends  and  a  certain 
energy  in  the  verse.     The  influence  of  Brainard  is  quite  marked,  par- 

1  These  lines  were  appropriately  chosen  by  the  Rev.  Charles  W.  Everest  as  the  motto  for 
the  titlepage  of  his  valuable  "  Poets  of  Connecticut,"  published  at  Hartford  in  1843. 

2  A  collection  of  Prentice's  poems  was  published  at  Cincinnati  in  1876,  edited,  with  a 
memoir,  by  John  James  Piatt. 

3  Biography  of  Henry  Clay.  By  George  D.  Prentice,  Esq_.  Hartford.  Hamner  &  Phelps 
publishers,  1831. 

4  Legends  of  New  England.  By  John  G.  Whittier.  Hartford.  Published  by  Hanmer  & 
Phelps,  1831.     The  titlepage  has  a  quotation  from  Brainard's  "Connecticut  River." 


166  MEMORIAL   HISTOEY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

ticularly  in  the  prose  sketch  entitled  "The  Human  Sacrifice,"  and  in 
the  poem  "  The  Black  Fox,"  which  is  identical  in  subject  with  Brain- 
ard's  "  Black  Fox  of  Salmon  River,"  with  the  odds  in  point  of  treatment 
decidedly  in  Brainard's  favor. 

Here  may  be  conveniently  mentioned,  out  of  their  chronological 
order,  a  number  of  other  poets  who  have  adorned  the  annals  of  Hart- 
ford County. 

William  Henry  Bradley  (born  at  Hartford,  July  24,  1802;  died 
in  Cuba  in  1825)  was  a  young  physician  whose  "  Giuseppino,  an 
Occidental  Story,"  published  in  1822,  as  also  his  fugitive  poems  con- 
tributed to  the  newspapers  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island, —  of  which 
city  he  was  for  a  time  a  resident,  —  is  thought  to  have  shown  much 
promise.  "  Giuseppino "  is  one  of  the  countless  imitations  of  "  Don 
Juan ; "  and  the  author's  other  verses  give  equally  strong  evidence  of 
Bvron's  influence. 

"  William  Henry  Burleigh  (born  at  Woodstock,  Feb.  2,  1812 ;  died 
at  Brooklyn,  New  York,  March  18,  1871)  was  a  self-educated  genius, 
Avho  led  a  checkered  career  as  farmer,  printer,  journalist,  lawyer,  and 
public  lecturer  on  slavery  and  other  topics.  He  resided  much  at  Plain- 
field,  and  was  at  one  time  editor  of  the  "  Charter  Oak,"  published  at 
Hartford.  He  printed  a  volume  of  poems  at  Philadelphia  in  1811. 
They  are  fair  specimens  of  the  better  class  of  newspaper  poetry  of 
their  period,  and  in  their  facility  and  sentiment  somewhat  resemble 
the  poems  of  Prentice. 

Mrs.  Shutts,  nee  Mary  Ann  Hanmer  Dodd  (born  at  Hartford,  March 
5,  1813  ;  married  Henry  Shutts,  of  New  York  State,  at  Springfield, 
Mass.,  in  1855 ;  died  at  Greenburg,  New  York,  1878)  was  a  contribu- 
tor to  the  "  Ladies'  Repository,"  a  monthly,  and  the  "  Rose  of  Sharon," 
an  annual,  and  printed  a  volume  of  poems  at  Hartford,  in  1843, 
marked  by  a  gentle  melancholy  and  a  deep  religious  feeling.  She 
was  a  Universalist,  and  published  many  of  her  pieces  in  denomina- 
tional prints. 

James  Dixon  (born  at  Enfield,  Aug.  5,  1814;  died  at  Hartford, 
March  27, 1873)  removed  about  1838  from  his  native  place  to  Hartford, 
where  he  resided  until  his  death.  He  was  eminent  in  professional  and 
political  life,  and  was  Member  of  Congress  from  1845  to  1849,  and  United 
States  Senator  from  1857  to  1869.  Mr.  Dixon  was  a  gentleman  of  elegant 
and  scholarly  tastes,  and  in  early  life  contributed  poetry  to  the  "  New 
England  Magazine,"  the  "  Connecticut  Courant,"  and  other  periodicals. 
His  poems,  especially  the  sonnets  which  are  given  in  Everest's  collec- 
tion, are  musical  and  graceful,  though  rather  amateurish.  They  remind 
the  reader  occasionally  of  Bryant ;  as  in  the  piece  entitled  "  Indian 
Summer." 

Arthur  Cleveland  Coxe  (born  at  Mendham,  New  Jersey,  May  10, 
1818)  now  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Diocese  of  western  New 
York,  was  rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  Hartford,  when  he  published 
his  religious  mystery-play,  "  Saul,"  in  1845.  His  poem  "  Athanasion" 
was  delivered  at  Trinity  College  in  1840,  and  his  sermons  on  "  Doc- 
trine and  Duty  "  were  preached  at  St.  John's. 

In  Henry  Howard  Brownell  (born  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
Feb.  6,  1820';  graduated  at  Trinity  College  in  1841  ;  died  at  East  Hart- 


HARTFORD   IN   LITERATURE. 


167 


ford,  Oct.  31, 1872),  Hartford  had  a  poet  worthy  of  the  name.  Unfitted 
by  delicate  health  for  the  active  work  of  a  profession,  Mr.  Brownell 
resided  most  of  his  life  at  East  Hartford,  devoting  himself  to  reading 
and  study.  In  1847  he  published  a  slender  volume  of  poems  which 
gave  token  of  fine  possibilities,  though  as  yet  the  poet  seemed  waiting 
for  his  theme.  It  ca  me 
with  the  bombard- 
ment of  Sumter.  Mr. 
Brownell  obtained  a 
position  on  Farragut's 
staff,  on  whose  flag- 
ship,u  The  Hartford/ ' 
he  was  present  dur- 
ing several  great  na- 
val engagements, such 
as  the  "Bay  Fight" 
at  Mobile,  which  he 
described  in  most  dra- 
matic verse  in  his 
"Lyrics  of  a  Day," 
1864,  and  his  "  War 
Lyrics,"  18G6.  The 
fiery  and  rugged  po- 
etry of  such  pieces  as 
"  The  Bay  Fight," 
"  Annus  Memorabi- 
lis,"  and  many  others, 
entitle  Brownell  to 
rank  equally,  perhaps, 
with  Whittier  as  the 
Korner  of  our  Civil 
War.      He    was    also  henry  howakd  bkowxell. 

the   author  of   "The 

Old  World,"  "The  New  World,"  a  "History  of  the  War  of  1812,"  and 
other  writings  in  prose. 

George  H.  Clark  (born  in  Northampton,  Mass.,  1809 ;  died  in 
Hartford,  August,  1881),  for  many  years  a  merchant  of  Hartford,  was 
a  contributor  of  verses  to  "  Putnam's  Magazine  "  and  the  "  Knicker- 
bocker," and  published  a  volume,  "  Undertow,1'  in  1860.  He  also  wrote 
numerous  poems  for  special  occasions. 

Perhaps  the  man  of  highest  genius  in  the  catalogue  of  Hartford 
authors  was  Horace  Bushnell  (born  at  Litchfield,  April  14,  1802 ; 
died  at  Hartford,  Feb.  17,  1876).  His  connection  with  Hartford  began 
with  his  call  to  the  pastorate  of  the  North  Church  in  1833,  and  he 
remained  until  his  death  one  of  its  most  public  spirited  citizens.  The 
beautiful  city  park  which  his  exertions  did  so  much  to  obtain,  fittingly 
bears  his  name.  His  writings,  though  mainly  theological,  or,  rather, 
religious,  in  subject,  are  often  lifted  by  their  imaginative  quality  and 
beauty  of  style  into  the  region  of  pure  literature.  His  thought  has  some- 
times a  resemblance  to  Emerson's,  though  his  conclusions  were  widely 
different.      His  orthodoxy  was  supported  by  admissions  so  bold  and 


168  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

reasonings  so  original  as  to  lay  him  open  to  charges  of  heresy.  His 
earlier  writings  in  particular,  such  as  "  Christian  Nurture,"  1847,  "  God 
in  Christ,"  1849,  and  "  Christian  Theology,"  1851,  made  him  the  object 
of  what  may  without  exaggeration  be  called  persecution  by  a  party 
among  the  Congregational  churches  of  the  State.  In  consequence  of 
his  peculiar  way  of  holding  the  doctrines  of  the  Atonement  and  the 
Divinity  of  Christ,  he  was  accused  of  a  modified  form  of  Unitarianism. 
In  his  works,  like  "Work  and  Play,"  a  series  of  essays,  published  as 
a  volume  in  18G4,  but  delivered  much  earlier,  "  The  Moral  Uses  of 
Dark  Things,"  1869,  and  his  masterpiece,  "Nature  and  the  Super- 
natural," 1859,  he  addressed  a  public  wider  than  the  limits  of  his 
denomination.  In  these,  and  particularly  in  the  last  mentioned,  Dr. 
Bushneirs  other-worldliness  is  shown  in  an  inclination  to  admit  a 
belief  in  modern  miracles,  the  development  of  spiritual  life,  and  "  de- 
moniacal irruptions."  His  life  and  letters  have  been  edited  by  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  Bushnell  Cheney.1 

In  this  connection  may  be  mentioned  another  distinguished  divine, 
Robert  Turnbull  (born  at  Whiteburn,  Scotland,  Sept.  10,  1809;  died 
in  1877),  who  was  pastor  of  the  South  Baptist  Church  from  1837  to 
1839,  and  subsequently  of  the  First  Baptist.  Dr.  Turnbull  was  known 
by  his  translation  of  Vinet's  "  Vital  Christianity,"  1846,  and  of  the  same 
author's  "  Miscellanies,"  1852,  as  well  as  by  many  original  works,  in- 
cluding "  The  Genius  of  Scotland,"  1847  ;  "  The  Genius  of  Italy,"  1849  ; 
"  Christ  in  History,"  1856 ;  "  Pulpit  Orators  of  France  and  Switzer- 
land," 1853;  "Life  Pictures,"  1857,  etc.  He  edited  at  one  time  the 
"  Christian  Review." 

In  Isaac  William  Stuart  (born  at  New  Haven  in  1809;  died  at 
Hartford,  Oct.  2,  1861),  Hartford  had  a  graceful  orator  and  accom- 
plished scholar,  as  well  as  an  enthusiastic  student  of  the  history  and 
antiquities  of  the  city.  Mr.  Stuart  came  to  Hartford  in  1838,  and,  ex- 
cepting a  few  years'  absence  at  the  South,  when  he  held  the  Greek 
professorship  in  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  made  it  his  life 
residence.  He  was  the  owner  of  the  Wyllys  estate,  where  the  Charter 
Oak  stood.  In  1853  he  collected  and  issued,  under  the  title  "  Hartford 
in  the  Olden  Time,"  a  pleasant  series  of  papers  first  contributed  to  the 
"Courant."2  In  1856  he  published  his  charmingly  written  "Life  of 
Nathan  Hale," 3  and  in  1859,  at  Boston,  a  "  Life  of  Jonathan  Trumbull." 
He  was  also  the  translator  of  an  "  Essay  on  the  Hieroglyphic  System 
of  Champollion,"  1830,  and  in  1837  edited  "  CEdipus  Tyrannus,"  with 
notes,  etc. 

Henry  Champion  Deming  (born  at  Colchester,  May  23,  1815  ;  died 
at  Hartford,  Oct.  9,1872),  a  forcible  and  finished  orator  and  a  gentle- 
man of  brilliant  social  and  intellectual  gifts,  was  best  known  by  his 
numerous  public  addresses,  lectures,  and  Congressional  speeches.  He 
settled  at  Hartford  in  1847  ;  in  1861  was  appointed  colonel  of  the 
Twelfth  Regiment  of  Connecticut  volunteers;  in  1862-1863  was  mayor 
of  the  captured  city  of  New  Orleans  ;  and  from  1864  to  1868  represented 

1  Life  and  Letters  of  Horace  Bushnell.     New  York:  Harper  &  Bros.,  1880. 

2  Hartford  in  the  Olden  Time :  Its  First  Thirty  Years.  By  Seasva,  Edited  hy  W.  M. 
B.  Hartley.     With  illustrations.     Hartford.     Published  by  F.  A.  Brown,  1853. 

3  Life  of  Captain  Nathan  Hale,  the  Martvr-Spy  of  the  American  Revolution.  By  I.  W. 
Stuart.     With  illustrations.     Hartford.      Published  by  F.  A.  Brown,  1856. 


HARTFORD   IX   LITERATURE. 


169 


the  First  District  of  Connecticut  in  Congress.  When  a  young  man,  and 
resident  in  New  York,  Mr.  Denting  published  translations  of  some  of 
Eugene  Sue's  novels  in  Park  Benjamin's  paper,  "  The  New  World." 
Specially  noteworthy  among  his  orations  were  his  speech  on  "  Recon- 
struction," in  the  National  House  of  Representatives ;  his  "  Eulogy  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,"  delivered  before  the  General  Assembly  of  Connec- 
ticut in  1865  ;  and  his  lyceum  lecture  on  "  The  Passage  of  the  Forts." 
In  1868  he  published  at  Hartford  a  "  Life  of  Grant," 

Azel  Stevens  Roe  (born  at  New  York  in  1798,  died  at  East  Windsor 
Jan.  1,  1886),  retired  to  East  Windsor  about  1848,  where  he  wrote  his 
very  popular  scries  of  stories  for  boys,  —  "  James  Montjoy,"  1850  ; 
'•Time  and  Tide,"  1852 
the  number  of  a  dozen. 


Among  living  authors  now  resident  in  Hartford  County  may  be 
mentioned  the  following :  — 

The  famous  author  of  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe,  nee  Harriet  Elizabeth  Beecher  (born  at  Litchfield,  June  14, 
1812),  from  her  fifteenth  to 
her  twenty-first  year  was 
associated  with  her  sister 
Catherine  in  the  charge  of  a 
female  seminary  at  Hart- 
ford. Some  of  her  sketches 
of  New  England  life  after- 
ward published  in  her  first 
book,  "The  May-Flower," 
1844,  were  written  at  this 
time.  In  1864  Mrs.  Stowe 
returned  to  Hartford,  where 
she  has  since  made  her 
home.  Many  of  her  later 
works  have  been  written 
there,  including  "  Men  of 
Our  Times,"  Hartford,  1868 ; 
"  The  Chimney  -  Corner," 
1868  ;  "  The  Minister's 
Wooing,"  1868;  "  Oldtown 
Folks,"  1869;  "Pink  and 
White  Tyranny,"  1871 ; 
"  My  Wife  and  I,"  1871 ; 
"Palmetto  Leaves,"  1873; 
"  We  and  Our  Neighbors,"  1875  ;  "  Poganuc  People,"  1878,  etc. 

James  Hammond  Trumbull,  LL.D.  (born  at  Stonington,  Dec.  20, 
1821),  librarian  of  the  Watkinson  Library  and  president  of  the  Con- 
necticut Historical  Society  since  1863,  was  a  member  of  the  class 
of  1842  in  Yale  College,  and  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws 
from  that  institution  in  1871.  He  was  assistant  Secretary  of  the  State 
of  Connecticut  from  1847  to  1852,  and  again  from  1858  to  1861,  and 
Secretary  of  the  State  from  1861  to  1865.  Between  1850  and  1859  he 
edited  and  published  the  first  three  volumes  of  the  "  Connecticut  Colony 
Records."     He  was  one  of  the  active  founders  of  the  American  Philo- 


MES.    HARRIET    BEECHER    STOWE. 


170 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


logical  Association  in  1869,  and  its  president,  1874-1875.  Among  his 
published  writings  are  :  "  The  Origin  of  McFingal,"  "  The  Composition 
of  Indian  Geographical  Names,"  "  The  Best  Method  of  Studying  the 
Indian  Languages,"  "  Mistaken  Notions  of  Algonkin  Grammar,"  "  His- 
torical Notes  on  the  Constitution  of  Connecticut,"  "Notes  on  Forty 


Algonkin  Versions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer, 


CHAS.    DUDLEY    WARNEB. 


(Portrait  used  by  permission  of 


.  Houghton,  Mifflin,  &  Co ) 


which  paper  he  is  still  associated.     Mr 


Notes  on  the  Algonkin 
Verb,"  "The  Defence  of 
Stonington  against  a  Brit- 
ish Squadron  in  1814,"  etc. 

Erastus  Wolcott  Ells- 
worth (born  at  East  Wind- 
sor in  1823),  by  profession 
an  inventor  and  machinist, 
published  a  volume  of  po- 
ems in  1855,1  the  longest 
of  which  had  for  its  subject 
the  story  of  Theseus  and 
Ariadne.  One  of  the  po- 
ems, and  a  remarkably  good 
one,  entitled  "  What  is  the 
Use  ? "  has  been  reprinted 
in  Whittier's  "  Songs  of 
Three  Centuries."  Mr.  Ells- 
worth furnished  many  of 
the  drawings  for  the  su- 
perb "  Wolcott  Memorial," 
recently  published. 

Charles  Dudley  Warner 
(born  at  Plainfield,  Mass., 
Sept.  12,  1829)  came  to 
Hartford  in  1860  as  one  of 
the  editors  of  the  "  Press," 
and  subsequently  became 
one  of  the  owners  and  edi- 
tors of  the  "  Courant,"  with 
Warner  is  widely  known  as  a 


delicate  humorist,  and  the  author  of  charming  sketches,  essays,  and 
travels.  "  My  Summer  in  a  Garden,"  1871  ;  "  Saunterings,"  1872  ; 
"Backlog  Studies,"  1872  ;  "  Baddeck,"  1874  ;  "  My  Winter  on  the  Nile 
amono;  Mummies  and  Moslems,"  1876  ;  "  In  the  Levant,"  1877  ;  "  Being 
a  Boy,"  1878  ;  "  In  the  Wilderness,"  1878  ;  "  Washington  Irving," 
1880;  "Life  of  Captain  John  Smith;"  "A  Roundabout  Journey,"  etc., 
are  among  his  published  writings,  and  were  all  written  at  Hartford. 

Samuel  Langhorne  Clemens  (born  at  Florida,  Monroe  County,  Mo., 
Nov.  30,  1835),  universally  known,  by  his  pen-name  of  "  Mark  Twain," 
as  one  of  the  raciest  and  most  original  of  American  humorists,  has 
lived  at  Hartford  since  1871.  His  later  books  have  been  "The  In- 
nocents Abroad,"  1869  ;  "  Roughing  It,"  1872  ;  "  Mark  Twain's 
Sketches,"  1875 ;  "Adventures  of  Tom  Sawyer,"  1876;  "A  Tramp 
Abroad,"  1880;  "The  Prince  and  the  Pauper;"    "Life  on  the  Missis- 


Poems.     By  Erastus  W.  Ellsworth.     Published  by  F.  A.  Brown.     Hartford,  1855. 


HARTFORD   IN   LITERATURE. 


171 


sippi 
Punch,"  etc. 


The  Adventures  of  Huckleberry  Finn;"  "Punch,  Brothers, 


has 


Among  living  writers  formerly  identified  with  Hartford,  but 
resident  elsewhere,  may  be  named  the  following  :  — 

Frederick  Law  Olmsted  (born  at  Hartford,  Nov.  10,  1822) 
been  since  1848  a  citizen  of  New  York, 
and  his  numerous  valuable  contribu- 
tions to  the  literature  of  travel,  hor- 
ticulture, and  landscape-gardening  date 
from  that  city  ;  the  first  of  his  published 
works,  "  Walks  and  Talks  of  an  Amer- 
ican Farmer  in  England,"  having  ap- 
peared in  1852. 

Mrs.  Rose  Terry  Cooke  (born  at 
Hartford,  Feb.  17,  1827),  who  removed 
to  Winsted  after  her  marriage  in  1873, 
has  been  a  frequent  contributor  of  po- 
etry and  graphic  stories  of  rural  New 
England  life  to  the  columns  of  the  "  At- 
lantic Monthly,"  "  Harper's,"  and  other 
periodicals.  In  1861  she  published  at 
Boston  a  volume  of  poems,  some  of 
which,  such  as  "Trailing  Arbutus,"  SAMUEL  LANGHorne  clemens. 
'Then,"  and  "The  Two  Villages,"  have  ("mark  twain.") 

been  justly  popular. 

Frederic  Beecher  Perkins  (born  at  Hartford,  Sept.  27,  1829)  was 
for  many  years  a  resident  of  the  city,  and  at  different  times  librarian  of 
the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  and  associate  editor  of  Barnard's 
"  American  Journal  of  Education  "  and  of  the  "  Connecticut  Common 
School  Journal."  He  published  at  New  York,  in  1872,  his  useful  "  The 
Best  Reading,"  which  has  gone  through  many  editions.  He  has  con- 
tributed to  various  periodicals  some  fifty  stories  and  sketches,  the  best 
known  of  which  is,  perhaps, "  The  Steam  Man."  A  volume  of  these  he 
collected  and  published  at  New  York  in  1877,  called  "  Devil  Puzzles,  and 
Other  Stories,"  of  which  the  one  entitled  "  Children  " — in  which  he 
feigns  a  dislike  of  Wethersfield  onions  and  Hartford  "  Election  cake"  — 
is  of  some  local  interest. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Clay  Trumbull  (born  at  Stonington,  June  8,1830), 
a  brother  of  Dr.  J.  H.  Trumbull,  since  1875  editor  of  the  "  Sunday  School 
Times"  in  Philadelphia,  published  :  "The  Knightly  Soldier,"  a  memoir 
of  Major  Henry  W.  Camp,  in  1865  ;  "  The  Captured  Scout  of  the  Army 
of  the  James,"  1867  ;  "  Kadesh-Barnea,"  including  "  Studies  of  the 
Route  of  the  Exodus,"  etc.,  188-4;  "Teaching  and  Teachers,"  1884; 
"  The  Blood  Covenant,"  1885  ;  and  other  writings,  biographical  and 
religious.  Mr.  Trumbull  was  a  resident  of  Hartford  during  the  years 
1851-1875,  serving  as  chaplain  of  the  Tenth  Regiment  Connecticut 
Volunteers  in  the  Union  army,  1862-1865. 

Edmund  Clarence  Stedman  (born  at  Hartford,  Oct.  8,1833),  widely 
and  favorably  known  as  a  poet  and  critic,  belongs  rather  to  New  York 
than  to  the  city  of  his  nativity.  He  went  to  New  York  in  1855,  and 
with  that  city  his  literary  career  is  most  closely  associated. 


172  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

John  Fiske  (born  at  Hartford,  1842),  formerly  assistant  librarian 
and  lecturer  at  Harvard  College,  author  of  "  Myths  and  Myth-Makers," 
1873,  "  Outlines  of  Cosmic  Philosophy,"  1875,  "  The  Unseen  World," 
1876,  "  Excursions  of  an  Evolutionist,"  1884,  "The  Idea  of  God,"  1885, 
etc.,  is  by  birth  a  Hartford  man,  though  his  spurs  have  been  won 
elsewhere. 

Among  natives  or  residents  of  Hartford  County  who  have  been 
prominent  in  scholarship  and  education  may  be  noted  the  following : 
The  distinguished  lexicographer,  Noah  Webster  (born  at  West  Hartford, 
Oct.  16,  1758),  lived  at  Hartford  off  and  on  up  to  1785,  and  published 
there  in  1783  his  famous  spelling-book.1  The  Rev.  Philip  Milledoler 
(born  at  Farmington,  Sept.  22,  1775),  from  1825  to  1841  President 
of  Rutgers  College  and  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  and  Christian 
Evidences,  was  the  author  of  numerous  addresses,  essays,  and  lec- 
tures on  theological  subjects.  The  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey  (born 
at  West  Simsbury,  March  26,  1779),  President  of  Amherst  College, 
1823-1845,  published  several  works,  and  in  particular  "Life  and 
Writings  of  T.  H.  Gallaudet,"  1859.  Professor  Ethan  Allen  Andrews 
(born  at  New  Britain  in  1787)  became  in  1822  Professor  of  Ancient 
Languages  in  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  His  Latin  Grammar 
(Andrews  and  Stoddard's)  has  had  an  immense  circulation,  and  he 
is  the  author  of  a  Latin  dictionary  and  other  books  of  Latin  instruc- 
tion. Dr.  John  Lee  Comstock  (born  at  East  Lyme),  long  a  resident 
at  Hartford,  published  numerous  text-books  in  chemistry,  botany, 
natural  history,  physical  geography,  mineralogy,  and  physiology,  which 
had  a  sale,  all  told,  of  nearly  a  million  copies.  He  also  published  a 
"  History  of  the  Greek  Revolution,"  1829.  The  Rev.  Romeo  Elton 
(born  at  Bristol,  1790),  at  one  time  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  in 
Brown  University,  and  editor  of  the  "  Eclectic  Review,"  published  among 
other  works  a  "  Biographical  Sketch  of  Roger  Williams  "  and  an  edition 
of  "  Callender's  Century  Sermon."  The  Rev.  Charles  Augustus  Good- 
rich (born  at  Ridgefield,  1790),  settled  at  Berlin  from  1820  to  1848,  and 
at  Hartford  from  1848  to  1862,  assisted  his  brother,  S.  G.  Goodrich,  in 
the  preparation  of  books  for  the  young,  and  published  "  The  Lives  of 
the  Signers,"  "  View  of  all  Religions,"  "  Family  Encyclopaedia,"  and 
other  books  of  religion  and  instruction.  Denison  Olmsted  (born  at  East 
Hartford,  1791),  Professor  of  Mathematics,  Natural  Philosophy,  and 
Astronomy,  in  Yale  College,  1825-1859,  published  a  number  of  valuable 
text-books  on  astronomy,  natural  philosophy,  etc.  William  Chanuing 
Woodbridge  (born  at  Medford,  Mass.,  Dec.  18,  1794)  taught  at  the 
Hartford  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  from  1817  to  1820,  and  assisted 
Mrs.  Willard  in  preparing  a  compendium  of  geography.  From  1831  to 
1838  he  edited  the  "  American  Annals  of  Education,"  and  was,  besides, 
the  author  of  several  elementary  text-books.  TheRev.  Edward  Robinson 
(born  at  Southington,  April  10,1794),  Professor  of  Sacred  Literature  at 
Andover  from  1830  to  1837,  and  at  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  in 
New  York  from  1837  to  1863,  was  the  author  of  "  Biblical  Researches 
in  Palestine,"  "Physical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land,"  and  of  many 
contributions,  original  and  translated,  to   Greek  and  Hebrew  lexicog- 

1  A  Grammatical  Institute  of  the  English  Language.  In  Three  Parts.  Part  I.  By  Noah 
Webster,  A.M.     Hartford,  1783.    Printed  by  Hudson  &  Goodwin,  for  the  Author,  1783. 


t-'Y 


HARTFORD   IN   LITERATURE.  173 

raphy.  Ho  was  four  years  editor  of  the  "  Biblical  Repository,"  estab- 
lished the  " Bibliotheca  Sacra"  in  1843,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  American  scholars.  The  Rev.  Hector  Humphrey  (born 
at  Canton,  June  8, 1787)  was  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  at  Wash- 
ington (now  Trinity)  College,  and  from  1831  to  1857  President  of  St. 
Johns  College,  Annapolis.  William  Alexander  Alcott  (born  at  Wol- 
cott,  Aug.  6,  1798)  was  at  Hartford  in  1832,  assisting  William  C. 
Woodbridge  in  preparing  geographies  and  in  editing  the  "  American 
Annals."  He  published  over  a  hundred  books  in  the  course  of  his 
life,  mostly  on  education.  Catherine  Esther  Beecher  (born  at  East 
Hampton,  Long  Island,  Sept.  6, 1800)  conducted  a  famous  seminary  at 
Hartford  from  1822  to  1832,  and  published  at  different  times  a  number 
of  books  on  female  education,  domestic  economy,  etc.  The  Rev.  David 
Newton  Sheldon  (born  at  Suffield,  June  26,  1807)  was*  from  1843  to 
1853  President  of  Waterville  College.  He  is  the  author  of  "  Sin  and 
Redemption,"  and  of  published  sermons.  The  Rev.  Alonzo  Bowen 
Chapin  (born  at  Somers,  March  10,  1808),  formerly  editor  of  the 
"  Calendar,"  and  President  of  Beloit  College,  is  the  author  of  "  Puri- 
tanism not  Protestantism,"  and  other  books,  religious  and  educational. 
Professor  Anthony  Dumond  Stanley  (born  at  East  Hartford,  April  2, 
1810),  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Yale  from  1836  to  1853,  pub- 
lished a  "  Treatise  on  Spherical  Trigonometry,"  "  Tables  of  Loga- 
rithms," and  a  revised  edition  of  Day's  Algebra.  The  Rev.  Noah 
Porter  (born  at  Farmington,  1811),  President  of  Yale  College  since 
1871,  and  for  many  years  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy  in 
the  same  institution,  has  published  numerous  works,  including  "  The 
Human  Intellect,"  1868  ;  "  Books  and  Reading,"  1870  ;  "  The  American 
Colleges  and  the  American  Public,"  etc.  Elihu  Burritt,  "  the  learned 
blacksmith "  (born  at  New  Britain,  Dec.  8,  1811),  was  a  voluminous 
author  of  tracts,  pamphlets,  translations,  and  contributions  to  the  peri- 
odical press.  Henry  Barnard,  LL.D.  (born  at  Hartford,  Jan.  14, 1811), 
well  known  by  his  life-long  labors  in  the  cause  of  education,  has 
been  editor  of  the  "  Connecticut  Common  School  Journal  "  and  the 
"  American  Journal  of  Education,"  and  has  published  numerous  reports, 
documents,  and  other  writings,  historical  and  biographical,  bearing  on 
the  general  subject  of  education.  The  Rev.  Chester  S.  Lyman  (born  at 
Manchester,  Jan.  13,  1814)  has  been  since  1859  Professor  of  Industrial 
Mechanics  and  Physics  in  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale  College. 
His  published  writings  consist  of  contributions  to  "  Silliman's  Journal  " 
and  the  "  New  Englander,"  an  "  Address  on  Scientific  Education,"  1867, 
etc.  Professor  John  Pitkin  Norton  (born  at  Farmington  in  1822)  was 
the  first  Professor  of  Agricultural  Chemistry  in  Yale  College.  He 
published  "  Elements  of  Scientific  Agriculture,"  and  a  few  other  papers. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty,  leaving  an  impression  of  great  promise. 
William  Graham  Sumner  (born  at  Hartford,  Oct,  30,1840),  since  1872 
Professor  of  Political  and  Social  Science  in  Yale  College,  has  published 
a  "  History  of  American  Currency,"  1874  ;  a  "  History  of  Protection 
in  the  United  States,"  1876  ;  "Life  of  Andrew  Jackson,"  1882  ;  "  What 
Social  Classes  Owe  to  Each  Other,"  1883,  etc.,  and  numerous  contribu- 
tions to  reviews  and  magazines. 

Since  this  chapter  was  written  and  put  into  type  there  have  been 
important  additions  to  the  literature  which  belongs  properly  to  Hartford, 


174 


MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 


and  their  omission  is  to  be  explained  in  that  way ;  while  the  necessary 
limitations  of  so  comprehensive  a  sketch  must  be  accepted  as  the  rea- 
son for  not  attempting  to  describe  the  various  literary  clubs  which 
have  made  and  make  an  interesting  and  important  feature  of  life  in 
Hartford. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  MILITIA   AND  INDEPENDENT  COMPANIES. 

THE   MILITIA. 
BY    SHERMAN    W.    ADAMS. 

A  RMS  AND  ARMOR.  — In  March,  1638,  Hartford,  Windsor, 
j\  Wethersfield,  and  Agawam  were  required,  in  an  order  of  the 
General  Court,  to  provide  corselets  for  their  fighting-men,  to  the 
number  of  twenty-one,  twelve,  ten,  and  seven,  respectively.  These 
armor-coverings  were  neither  of  plate  nor  chain ;  but  were  —  at  least 
in  1642  —  of  heavy  cotton  cloth,  "  basted  with  cotton-wooll,  and  made 
defensiue  ag*  Indean  arrowes."  1  Outside  of  these,  coats  of  the  skins  of 
the  raccoon,  wolf,  or  bear  furnished  additional  protection  against  both 
weather  and  weapon.  Perhaps  we  should  include  under  this  head  the 
"  snow-shoes  and  Indian  shoes  "  required  by  the  Act  of  1704.  In  1722 
Wethersfield  purchased  thirty  pairs  each,  of  snow-shoes  and  "  maugi- 
sons,"  for  military  use.  In  1782  dragoons  were  required  to  wear  "  a 
cap,  made  of  jirk  leather,  sufficient  to  withstand  the  force  of  a  broad- 
sword." In  1638  every  "  military  man  "  was  required  to  keep  "  one 
pound  of  matche,  if  his  peece  be  a  match  locke."  In  1642  two  fathoms 
of  match  were  required  for  each  matchlock  musket.  The  match  (more 
properly  slow-match)  was  of  prepared  rope,  coiled  around  the  stock  of 
the  musket.  Snaphances  (literally,  snap-cocks)  were  supplied  with  a 
cock  and  trigger,  to  the  former  of  which  a  piece  of  match,  or  flint, 
was  attached. 

Firelocks  (later  called  flintlocks)  were  coming  into  use.  In  1673 
the  law  required  that  they  have  six  spare  flints  each ;  and  the  barrel 
might  be  either  of  the  "  bastard  "  or  of  the  "  coliver  "  (culverine)  form 
and  size.  The  firelock  was  not  rejected  by  statute  until  1862.  It 
was  the  fire-arm  principally  in  use  in  the  Mexican  War.  Beginning 
about  1820,  percussion  cap-locks  were  gradually  introduced  ;  but  in  the 
late  Civil  War  these  were  to  some  extent  superseded  by  the  Whitney 
rifled  musket,  and  later  by  breech-loaders  having  a  percussion  tape  or 
cartridge. 

Bandoliers  were  worn,  holding  twelve  or  more  separate  charges. 
About  1700  the  cartouch-box  was  substituted  for  the  bandolier.  In  the 
Revolution  it  was  made  to  contain  sixteen  ball-cartridges ;  but  many 
soldiers  had  to  be  content  with  the  bullet-pouch  and  powder-horn. 

The  rude  pike  or  lance  was  an  efficient  weapon.  In  1642  each  town 
was  required  to  procure  twenty  "  half-pikes,"  to  be  of  "  ten  foote  in 

1   But  plate  armor  —  certainly  the  cuirass  —  was  worn  by  some  officers  nearly  as  late  as 
a.d.  1700. 


176  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

length,  at  least,  in  the  wood."  The  full  pike  was  fourteen  feet  long, 
in  1666,  and  twenty  pikemen  were  required  to  every  hundred  soldiers. 
The  bayonet  succeeded  to  the  pike,  probably  before  1700.  It  was  at 
first  inserted  in  the  muzzle  of  the  piece.  The  ring-bayonet  soon  fol- 
lowed. In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  perhaps  as  late  as 
1820,  the  form  of  pike  known  as  the  "  espontoon"  was  much  in  use. 

Swords,  hangers  (sabres),  and  "cutlashes"  were  in  use  from  the 
beginning,  being  in  1650  required  for  all  soldiers.  In  1702  a  "trooper" 
was  required  to  carry  a  sword  or  cutlass  in  addition  to  his  carbine  and 
"  case  of  pistols."     For  his  carbine,  when  firing,  he  carried  a  "  rest." 

Of  cannon,  the  first  and  only  siege  guns  mounted  in  this  county 
were  those  placed  in  the  work  on  Dutch  Point  by  the  Dutch  occupants 
of  1633.1  Two  unmounted  cannon  were  brought  from  Piscataqua  (now 
Kittery,  Maine)  in  1642 ;  but  they  probably  went  to  Saybrook.  Sakers 
and  minions  were  then  in  use ;  and  Robert  Saltonstall,  of  Windsor, 
contracted  to  furnish  two  pieces  in  1642.  It  is  not  probable  that  any 
field  artillery  was  used  in  this  county  before  1792.  In  1822  eighteen 
6-pounders  of  iron  were  received  at  the  Arsenal  at  Hartford,  from  the 
United  States.  At  the  same  place  are  now  two  12-pounder  bronze  field- 
cannon,  and  two  bronze  howitzers  of  the  same  calibre.  Down  to  1840, 
or  later,  most  of  the  artillery  was  drawn  by  men,  with  drag-ropes. 

Uniforms.  —  No  distinctive  uniform  for  soldiery  was  required  before 
or  during  the  Revolution.2  The  cocked  hat  was  worn  by  both  American 
and  British  soldiers ;  but  the  infantry  militia  of  Connecticut,  following 
the  United  States  army,  adopted  the  shako  with  pompon,  in  1813  or 
earlier,  and  retained  it  nearly  fifty  years ;  that  is,  so  far  as  they  wore 
any  uniform  hat  or  cap.  Grenadiers,  after  1782,  wore  the  bearskin 
cap.  "  Troopers "  wore  the  bearskin  or  busby.  The  chapeau-bras 
has  been  worn  by  officers  of  the  Governor's  staff  for  many  years.  In 
the  late  Civil  War  the  McClellan  cap  and  felt  hat  of  the  regular  army 
was  worn  by  our  soldiers.  The  German  pickelhaube  (pike-helmet) 
was  adopted  by  our  First  Regiment  in  1879,  —  the  first,  it  is  said,  in 
the  United  States.  As  to  the  other  outer  garments,  the  cavalry  com- 
panies, as  early  as  1782,  were  allowed  to  choose  the  "  colour  of  their 
cloathing."  In  1783  the  same  privilege  was  accorded  to  the  "  artillery, 
or  matross  companies."  From  1792  to  1811  cavalry-men  and  artillery- 
men were  compelled  to  wear  distinctive  uniforms ;  and  infantry  were  so 
compelled  from  1811  to  1815.  From  1816  to  1847  there  was  no  legal 
obligation  upon  the  infantry  to  wear  a  uniform  ;  but  in  fact  some  compa- 
nies, which  were  made  the  flank-companies,  did  wear  one  ;  while  others, 
the  "  battalion  "  companies,  were  un-uniformed.  Since  1847  a  uniform 
has  been  required  for  all  sections  of  the  militia. 

In  1793  some  if  not  all  the  commissioned  officers  of  infantry  wore 
blue  coats  lined  with  white  and  faced  with  red,  white  vest,  pantaloons, 
buttons,  and  epaulets.  Warrant  officers  wore  a/white  worsted  shoulder- 
knot  in  place  of  the  epaulet.  Musicians  wore  red  coats  lined  with 
white  and  faced  with  blue,  with  blue  livery-lace  trimmings,  white  vest 
and  buttons ;  a  blue  worsted  knot  on  the  shoulder.  Corporals  and 
privates  wore  "  white  frocks  and  overalls,"  a  black  feather  tipped  with 
red  on  the  hat.  In  1812  the  pantaloons  were  changed  to  blue ;  a 
stock,  for  the  neck,  of  black  leather,  velvet,  or  woven  hair  was  pre- 

1  See  editorial  note  1,  p.  188.  2  See  editorial  note  2,  p.  188. 


THE   MILITIA. 


177 


scribed ;  the  rini  of  the  hat  to  be  turned  up  on  the  left  side.  The  coats 
of  the  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates  had  short  skirts,  while 
those  of  the  field  and  commissioned  officers  had  long  skirts.  Field  offi- 
cers wore  breeches  instead  of  pantaloons.  Officers  and  men  alike  wore 
a  cockade  of  black  leather.  In  1813  a  red  welt  was  inserted  in  the 
outer  seams  of  the  pantaloons  of  non-commissioned  officers,  privates, 
and  musicians.  The  hat  was  round  and  black,  having  a  japanned  fron- 
tispiece ornamented  with  a  gilt  spread-eagle ;  the    feather  (described 


wtsm 


■  ■'■     ■  ■■         I  ^K^\MW 


THE    STATE    ARSENAL, A   VIEW    FROM    THE    SOUTH. 

above)  to  be  on  the  left  side  and  to  rise  five  inches  above  the  crown. 
The  commander  of  a  regiment  wore  two  plumes,  —  one  black,  the  other 
red.  A  major  wore  two  black  plumes,  captains  and  staff  officers  one 
red  plume.     Officers  wore  a  crimson  sash. 

A  rifleman  in  1842  was  costumed  as  follows:  "coatee"  of  black 
velveteen,  single-breasted,  with  brass  "bullet-buttons"  in  front  and  on 
the  skirts ;  standing  collar  trimmed  with  yellow  lace ;  pantaloons  of 
the  same  cloth  with  a  stripe  of  yellow  lace  on  the  outer  seams ;  high 
black  cap  with  brass  visor  and  black  "  fountain  plume." 

The  Arsenal  of  the  State  is  at  Hartford.  Land  for  it  (one  acre)  on 
the  east  side  of  Windsor  road  (now  Main  Street)  was  obtained  from 
Ichabod  Lord  Skinner  in  1812,  and  a  three-story  edifice  of  brick,  with 
a  "  guard-house  to  lodge  twelve  men "  annexed  thereto,  was  built  the 
same  year  under  the  supervision  of  Quartermaster-General  John  Mix  and 
Andrew  Kingsbury.  The  cost  of  the  first  building  was  84,000  ;  but  addi- 
tional structures  have  been  built  all  around  the  yard,  and  the  original  one 
has  been  externally  modified.     It  contains  many  interesting  war  relics. 

Organization.  —  The  militia  system  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  posse 
comitatus  or  (armed)  "  power  of  the  county,"  at  whose  head  was  the 
sheriff ;  and  in  the  early  years  of  this  colony  the  highest  military  officer 

VOL.   I.— 12. 


178 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 


was  the  sergeant-major  of  the  county.  There  was  really  no  "  tactical 
unit "  prior  to  1739,  when  the  company  of  64  men  was  made  such  a 
unit.  The  earliest  military  order  of  our  General  Court  was  that  of 
Sept.  1,  1636.  It  required  that  "  every  plantacon  shall  traine  once  in 
every  moneth,  &  if  ...  it  appear  that  there  bee  divers  very  unskilfull, 
the  sayde  plantacon  may  appointe  the  officer  to  traine  oftener  the  saide 
unskillfull."  In  1638  Captain  John  Mason,  a  very  competent  officer, 
was  directed  to  "  traine  the  military  men  in  each  plantacon."  But, 
excepting  for  the  purpose  of  "  watch  and  ward,"  there  was  theft  no 
armed  organization  in  any  township.  A  "  band  "  (trainband)  is  first 
mentioned  in  1642.  Its  highest  officer  was  a  "  clerk "  or  inspector. 
In  1643  trainbands  were  made  subject  to  the  orders  of  a  captain  "  or 
other  officer,"  showing  that  such  bodies  were  not  composed  of  a  fixed 
number  of  members.  In  1649  the  officer  commanding  the  Wethersfield 
trainband  was  a  lieutenant,  while  the  officer  at  Farmington  was  a  ser- 
geant. In  the  Code  of  1650  no  number  is  fixed  for  the  "  trained  band," 
but  it  was  to  have  a  captain,  lieutenant,  etc.,  according  to  its  size. 

In  1658  Major  John  Mason,  then  the  highest  military  officer  in  the 
colony,  secured  the  organization  of  a  "troop"  of  horse  for  Hartford 
County.  It  contained  thirty-seven  members.  Below  is  the  roster  of 
this  first  body  of  cavalry  in  Connecticut :  — 

Captain,  Richard  Lord,  of  Hartford ;  Lieutenant,  Daniel  Clark,  of  Windsor  ; 
Cornet,  John  Allyn,  of  Hartford ;  Corporals  (same  as  sergeants  in  infantry), 
Nicholas  Olmstead,  of  Hartford,  Richard  Treat,  of  Wethersfield,  and  Sam.  Mar- 
shall, of  Windsor  ;  Quartermaster,  Tho.  Welles,  Jim.,  of  Hartford ;  privates  : 
(Samuel)  Wyllys,  Jacob  Mygatt,  Jonathan  Gilbert,  John  Stedman,  James  Steele, 
Daniel  Pratt,  Andrew  Warner,  Will.  Edwards,  Rich.  Fellowes,  and  Robert  Reeve, 
of  Hartford  ;  Tho.  Allyn,  John  Bissell,  Geo.  Phelps,  Steph.  Terry,  Will.  Hayden, 
John  Hosford,  John  Williams,  Nath.  Loomis,  Tho.  Loomis,  Aaron  Cooke,  David 
Wilton,  Simon  Wolcott,  Tho.  Strong,  John  Moses,  and  John  Porter,  of  Windsor ; 
John  Latimer,  John  Belden,  John  Chester,  Anthony  Wright,  and  John  Palmer, 
of  Wethersfield. 


Many  of  the  privates  in  the  foregoing  list  afterward  distinguished 
themselves  in  active  service  as  officers.  This  troop  contained  sixty 
members  in  1672.  Its  captains  prior  to  1739,  when  it  became  attached 
to  the  First  Eegiment,  were  commissioned  as  follows  :  — 


Rich.  Lord,  Hartford,  1658. 

Daniel  Clark,        Windsor,  1664. 

Sam.  Talcott,        Wethersfield,  1681. 

Joseph  Whiting,  Hartford,  1692. 

Wm.  Whiting,      Hartford,  1698. 


Sam.  Wolcott, 
James  Steele, 
Daniel  White, 
Robert  Welles, 
John  Whiting, 


Windsor, 

Wethersfield, 

Windsor, 

Wethersfield, 

Hartford, 


1705. 
1710. 
1716. 

1726. 
1730. 


In  1662  the  "  preheminence  "  of  the  trainbands  in  the  several  town- 
ships was  legally  declared  as  follows  :  HartfordfUrst ;  Windsor,  second  ; 
Wethersfield,  third  ;  Farmington,  fourth.  This  was  the  same  as  their 
relative  ratio  of  population. 

A  "troope  of  dragooneers,"  in  1668,  armed  with  half-pikes  and  pistols, 
contained  163  members;  in  1673  Hartford  contributed  44 ;  Windsor, 
38  ;  Wethersfield,  30  ;  Farmington,  22  ;  Middletown,  13  ;  Haddam,  9  ; 
Simsbury,  7.     Benjamin  Newberry,  of  Windsor,  was  in  command. 

The  office  of  Sergeant-Major  was  created  in  1672.     It  was  the  high- 


THE   MILITIA.  179 

est  military  office  in  each  county,  being  what  might  be  called  the 
County  Adjutant.    Major  John  Talcott  was  the  first  in  Hartford  County. 

Trainbands,  in  1673,  contained.  64  men  under  a  captain,  or  32 
under  a  lieutenant,  or  24  under  a  sergeant.  Some  had  more  than  100 
men.  Some  towns  had  one  or  two  rude  cannons  of  small  size.  In 
1680  the  infantry  of  the  county  amounted  to  835  men,  armed  with  mus- 
kets and  pikes.  About  300  were  dragoons  when  in  active  service.  In 
1688  there  were  nine  trainbands  in  the  county  ;  two  in  Hartford,  two 
in  Windsor,  one  each  in  Wethersfield,  Farmington,  Middletown,  Sims- 
bury,  and  Haddam. 

Beginning  in  1691,  one  township  after  another  was  divided  into 
"  precincts,"  each  to  be  assigned  for  one  "  company  "  only.  Hartford 
was  the  first  so  divided,  the  Little  River  being  made  the  divisional  line 
between  the  two  precincts.  These  lines  were  established  (down  to  1698 
at  least)  by  Sergeant-Major  Jonathan  Bull,  of  Hartford.  John  Chester, 
of  Wethersfield,  succeeded  to  this  office  in  1702,  and  the  latter's  succes- 
sor was  Roger  Wolcott,  of  Windsor,  in  1724. 

In  1702  there  were  three  companies  of  infantry  in  Hartford,  one  being- 
east  of  the  river.  Windsor  had  three,  divided  in  the  same  manner.  There 
was  a  North  and  a  South  company  in  Wethersfield  and  in  Middletown. 

Major  Roger  Wolcott' s  command  was  called  a  "regiment"  in  1737  ; 
but  it  was  not,  strictly  speaking,  such.  It  contained  forty-seven  com- 
panies of  infantry  numbering  3,480  men,  and  two  of  horse  numbering 
106  men.  One  of  the  Hartford  "  companies  "  had  173  members.  Below 
is  a  list  of  the  companies  and  of  their  commanding  officers  :  — 

Hartford  :  four  companies  of  infantry,  aggregating  478  men,  under  Captains 
Nath.  Hooker,  Joseph  Cooke,  Wm.  Pitkin,  and  Daniel  Webster. 

Windsor  :  seven  companies,  501  men ;  Captains,  Henry  Allyn,  Pelatiah 
Allen,  Joseph  Phelps,  John  Ellsworth,  and  Tho.  Griswold ;  Lieutenants,  Dan. 
Ellsworth  and  Pelatiah  Mills. 

Wethersfield  :  four  companies,  324  men  ;  Captains,  John  Chester,  Gideon 
Welles,  Jacob  Williams,  and  Martin  Kellogg. 

Middletown  :  seven  companies,  481  men  ;  Captains,  John  Warner,  Joseph 
South niayd,  Daniel  Hall,  Rich.  Hamlin,  and  jSTath.  White  ;  Lieutenants,  Samuel 
Hart  and  Geo.  Hubbard. 

Farmington  :  four  companies,  328  men  ;  Captains,  Josiah  Hart,  Joseph  Wood- 
ruff, Tho.  Curtis,  and  Tho.  Hart. 

Simsbury :  three  companies,  202  men ;  Captains,  James  Cornish,  Benj. 
Adams,  and  John  Lewis. 

Haddam  :  two  companies,  132  men  ;  Captains,  John  Fish  and  Nath.  Sutcliff. 

East  Haddam  :  two  companies,  166  men ;  Captains,  Stephen  Cone  and 
Matthew  Smith. 

Glastonbury:  two  companies,  150  men;  Captains,  Tho.  Welles  and  David 
Hubbard. 

Colchester  :  four  companies,  212  men  ;  Captains,  Nath.  Foote,  Israel  Newton, 
Jonath.  Dunham,  and  John  Holmes. 

Hebron:  two  companies,  174  men;  Captains,  Joseph  Swetland  and  Morris 
Tillotson. 

Tolland  :  one  company,  87  men  ;  Captain,  Sam.  Chapman. 

Bolton  :  one  company,  65  men ;  Captain,  John  Talcott. 

Stafford  :  one  company,  59  men ;  Captain,  Dan.  Blodgett. 

Willington  :  one  company,  56  men  ;  Captain,  Eleazar  Hubbell. 

Litchfield  :  one  company,  65  men  ;  Captain,  Jacob  Griswold  ;  also  one 
company,  Captain  Joseph  Bird,  number  of  men  not  given. 


180 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


Of  the  two  companies  of  horse,  one  was  in  Hartford  and  vicinity, 
Captain  John  Whiting ;  the  other  in  Colchester  (?)  and  vicinity,  Cap- 
tain John  Bulkeley. 

In  1739  regimental  organizations  were  for  the  first  time  established ; 
but  under  the  departmental  system  they  were  of  unequal  size.  The 
tactical  unit  became  the  company,  of  64  men ;  but  many  trainbands 
existed  having  a  fractional  part  of  that  number.  Thirteen  regiments, 
each  commanded  by  a  colonel,  were  constituted.  In  Hartford  County, 
the  First  Regiment  included  Hartford,  Windsor,  Simsbury,  Bolton,  Tol- 
land, Harwinton,  Torrington,  New  Hartford,  Barkhamsted,  Hartland, 
Colebrook,  Winchester,  andthe  First  Society  of  Farmington.  The  Sixth 
included  Wethersfield,  Middletown,  Glastonbury,  and  the  parish  of 
Kensington.  Part  of  the  Tenth  Regiment  (Durham  and  Southington) 
and  the  Twelfth  (Hebron  and  East  Haddam)  also  came  within  Hartford 
County.  Neither  divisions  nor  brigades  were  constituted ;  and,  of 
course,  no  general  officers  were  provided. 

While  it  is  impracticable  to  give  a  list  of  the  field-officers  of  the  regi- 
ments in  this  county,  the  names  of  the  commanding  officers  of  the  First 
Regiment  (including  the  battalion  which  preceded  it)  are  as  follows  : 

1 672-1 G88,  Maj.  &  Lt.-Col.  John  Tal- 

cott. 
1688-1710,  Lt.-Cul.  John  Allyn. 
1710-1724,  Maj.  Joseph  Talcott. 
1724-1741,  Maj.  &  Col.  Eoger  Wolcott. 
1741-1751,  Col.  John  Whiting. 
1751-1762,    "     Joseph  Pitkin. 
1762-1774,    "     George  Wyllys. 
1774-1777,    "     Samuel  Wyllys. 
1777-1785,    "     Eoger  Newherry. 
1785-1792,  Lt.-Col.  Hezekiah  Wyllys. 
1792-1795,       "         Oliver  Mather. 
1795-1800,       "         Timothy  Seymour. 
1800-1803,       "         Job  Allyn. 
1803-1804,       "         Simon  Clark. 
1804-1807,       "         Timothy  Burr. 
1807-1809,       "         Elijah  Terry. 
1809-1812,       "         Moses  Tryon. 
1812-1815,       "         Luther  Fitch. 
1815-1818,  Col.  James  Loomis. 
1818-1822,    "     John  F.  Waters. 


1822-1824,  Col.  Irenus  Brown. 

1824-1829,  "  Eichard  Niles. 

1829-1833,  "  Wm.  Hay  den. 

1833-1836,  "  Thomas  Eoberts. 

1836-1840,  "  Leonard  E.  Welles. 

1840-1842,  "  Sam.  W.  Ellsworth. 

1842-1845,  "  Nathan  M.  Waterman. 

1845-1846,  "  Daniel  S.  Dewey. 

1846-1847,  "  Henry  Kennedy. 

1847-1852,  "  Elihu  Geer. 

1852-1861,  "  Sam.  A.  Cooley. 

1863-1866,  "  Chas.  H.  Prentice. 

1866-1869,  "  John  N.  Bunnell. 

1869-1870,  "  Benj.  F.  Prouty. 

1870-1874,  "  Jas.  E.  Hamilton. 

1874-1875,  "  John  B.  Clapp. 

1875-1877,  "  Philip  W.  Hudson. 

1877-1878,  "  Heman  A.  Tyler. 

1878-1884,  "  Lucius  A.  Barbour. 

1884-  "  Wm.  E.  Cone. 


The  history  of  this  regiment  was  fully  written  and  published  in  the 
Hartford  "  Evening  Post,"  March  17, 1880,  by  the  late  Captain  Levi  H. 
Hotchkiss ;  the  occasion  being  the  dedication  of  the  Armory  of  the  Hart- 
ford battalion  of  the  regiment.     There  is  an  armory  in  New  Britain. 

The  commanders  of  the  Sixth  Regiment,  down  to  1847,  when  the 
militia  were  reduced  to  one  regiment  in  each  county,  were  as  follows:  — 


1739-1756,  Col.  Tho.  Welles  (Glaston- 
bury). 
1756-1771,     "     John  Chester. 
1771-1774,    "     Jabez  Hamlin. 
1774-1775,     "     Elizur  Talcott. 
1775-1776,    "     Sam.  Holden  Parsons. 


1776-1780,  Col.  Thomas  Belden. 
1780-1788,     "     Howell  Woodbridge. 
1788-1793,  Lt.-Col.  Eoger  Welles. 
1793-1794,       "       Isaac  Welles. 
1794-1796,       "       Ezk1  Porter  Belden. 
1796-1801,       "       ElishaHale. 


THE   MILITIA. 


181 


1801-1803,  Lt.-Col.  John  Hale.  1828-1830,  Col.  John  C.  Pratt. 

1803-1809,       "       Levi  Lusk.  1830-1832,  "  Levi  Coe. 

1809-1811,       "       Sam.  Sellew.  1832-1833,  "  Amos  Miller. 

1811-1813,       "       Simeon  North.  1833-1834,  "  Henry  D.  Smith. 

1813-1816,  Lt.-Col.  &  Col.  Martin  Kel-    1834-1836,  "  William  Bulkeley. 

logg,  Jr.  1836-1838,  "  Everlin  Beckley.. 

1817-1818,  Col.  Josiah  Sage.  1838-1841,  "  Wolcott  P.  Stone. 

1818-1822,     "     James  Sellew.  1841-1844,  "  E.  W.  N.  Starr. 

1822-1824,     "     Edmoncl  Bulkeley.  1844-1846,  "  Henry  E.  Robinson. 

1824-1826,     "     Joseph  Camp.  1846-1847,  "  Wm.  H.  Bartlett. 
1826-1828,     "     Ozias  Camp. 

It  should  be  stated  that  the  departmental  lines  of  these  regiments,  as 
will  be  seen  hereafter,  were  changed  from  time  to  time,  so  that  the  town- 
ships respectively  occupied  by  them  were  different  at  different  periods. 

In  1741  a  troop  of  horse  was  authorized  for  each  regiment.  In 
1762  the  thirteen  militia  regiments  averaged  1,558  men  each,  including 
their  respective  troops.  In  1776  five  regiments  of  "  light  horse  "  were 
constituted  out  of  the  twenty-four  militia  regiments  then  existing.  The 
First  was  in  Hartford  County.  An  "  alarm  list "  was  also  constituted, 
the  members  whereof  were  composed  of  those  subject  to  (but  not  organ- 
ized for)  military  duty.  Grenadiers  and  light-infantry  companies  still 
formed  a  part  of  some  regiments. 

The  militia  system  was  radically  changed  in  December,  1776.  Divi- 
sions and  brigades  were  constituted  for  the  first  time.  Until  then,  no 
general  officers  had  been  appointed,  excepting  for  the  army  in  service. 
Two  divisions  and  six  brigades  were  formed  from  the  twenty-four 
regiments.  The  First,  Sixth,  and  parts  of  several  other  regiments,  in 
the  First  Brigade,  came  within  Hartford  County.  Part  of  the  Tenth 
was  in  the  Second  (General  James  Wadsworth's)  Brigade.  In  1782 
there  were  (including  one  for  Westmoreland)  twenty-seven  regiments 
in  the  colony.  Of  these,  Hartford  (west  of  the  river),  Windsor,  Suf- 
field,  and  part  of  Farmington  made  the  First  Regiment ;  Wethersfield 
and  Glastonbury,  the  Sixth  ;  Hebron  and  Marlborough  were  part  of  the 
Twelfth ;  Southington  and  Farmington  (exclusive  of  Wintonburv  par- 
ish) made  the  Fifteenth;  Simsbury,  the  Eighteenth;  East  Windsor, 
Enfield,  Bolton,  and  Hartford,  east  of  the  river,  the  Nineteenth.  Parts 
of  the  Twenty-second,  Twenty-third,  and  Twenty-fifth  were  also  in- 
cluded. The  Hartford  County  brigades  were :  the  First,  containing 
the  1st,  6th,  19th,  and  22d  regiments ;  part  of  the  Second  (the  23d 
regiment)  ;  part  of  the  Third  (the  25th  regiment) ;  part  of  the  Sixth 
(the  15th  and  18th  regiments). 

Many  who  held  a  commission  in  the  militia  held  another  (some- 
times a  higher  one)  in  the  Continental  army.  We  are  unable  to 
present  a  list  of  the  names  of  such. 

In  1782  five  regiments  of  "  light  dragoons  "  were  formed  from  scat- 
tering companies.  The  first  was  in  Hartford  County.  They  were  armed 
with  a  sword,  or  cutlass,  and  a  case  of  pistols,  and  were  the  same  as 
had  been  known  as  the  "  light  horse."  Grenadiers,  at  this  time,  were 
those  who  had  served  as  "  sergeants  of  foot  or  corporals  of  horse." 
They  were  attached  to  their  respective  companies  of  infantry,  and  dis- 
tinguished from  their  comrades  by  wearing  a  cap  of  bearskin.  In 
1789  the  infantry  regiments  averaged  977  men ;  cavalry,  255  men. 


182  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

In  1792  the  companies  of  artillery,  light-infantry,  and  dragoons 
were  attached  to  the  several  regiments  of  infantry.  A  company  of 
artillery  consisted  of  thirty  "  matrosses  "  and  their  officers.  A  troop 
contained  forty  men,  with  their  officers.  If  a  company  of  infantry 
contained  more  than  ten  men  above  the  regular  number  (sixty-four 
"  rank  and  file"),  the  surplus  members  were  organized  into  companies 
of  light-infantry  and  grenadiers.  There  were  now  four  divisions,  eight 
brigades,  and  thirty-five  regiments,  —  the  highest  number  ever  reached 
in  the  State.  No  brigade  was  wholly  in  this  county,  whose  limits  were 
narrower  than  in  1782.  The  1st  regiment  (which  included  Hartford, 
and  parts  of  Windsor  and  Farmington)  ;  the  18th  (Simsbury,  Granby, 
and  parts  of  Windsor  and  Suffield)  ;  the  19th  (East  Hartford,  Bolton, 
East  Windsor,  and  part  of  Ellington)  ;  and  the  31st  (Enfield  and  part 
of  Suffield)  were  in  the  First  Brigade.  The  6th  (Wethersfield,  Glas- 
tonbury, and  part  of  Berlin),  and  the  15th  (Bristol,  Southington,  and 
most  of  Farmington  and  Berlin),  were  in  the  Seventh  Brigade.  Marl- 
borough was  the  only  Hartford  County  town  in  the  Fifth  Brigade  ; 
being  in  the  12th  Regiment.  The  First  and  Seventh  brigades  were  in 
the  First  Division.  The  Second  Brigade,  which  was  now  no  longer  in 
this  county,  had  been  commanded  as  follows  :  — 

Brigadier-Generals  James  Wadsworth,  1776-1777;  Andrew  Ward,  1778- 
1783;  Comfort  Sage,   1783-1792;  William  Hart,  1792-1793. 

In  1815  the  territorial  system  as  to  regiments,  etc.,  was  discon- 
tinued. Three  divisions  of  infantry,  each  having  two  brigades,  and 
each  brigade  having  four  regiments,  were  established.  The  regiments 
contained  ten  companies  each,  including  one  of  grenadiers  or  of  light- 
infantry.  The  company  contained  sixty-four  privates.  Five  regiments 
of  cavalry,  each  annexed  to  a  brigade  of  infantry,  were  formed ;  the 
regiments  to  contain  four  troops,  of  forty-four  privates  each.  A  brigade 
of  artillery  was  also  established,  having  two  regiments  of  light  and 
two  of  heavy  (horse)  artillery.  Each  regiment  of  light  artillery  had 
twelve  companies  of  forty-four  men  each ;  the  heavy  had  four  com- 
panies of  sixty -four  men  each.  There  were  twenty  companies  of  rifle- 
men, each  having  sixty-four  men.  Each  of  these  rifle  companies  was 
attached  to  some  regiment  of  infantry.  Uniforms  were  not  required, 
excepting  for  the  artillery,  cavalry,  grenadier,  riflemen,  and  light- 
infantry  companies.  In  1823  a  uniform  was  required  for  the  "  flank  " 
companies  of  infantry.  The  "  battalion  "  companies  were  un-uniformed, 
and  constituted  the  element  jocularly  denominated  the  "  Rag-toes."  This 
elaborate  militia  system  prevailed  until  1847.  It  would  be  almost  im- 
possible (there  being  no  boundary  lines)  to  determine  what  military 
organizations  existed  at  that  date  in  Hartford  Count3r ;  but  it  may  be 
said  that  the  First  and  part  of  the  Second  Brigade,  both  in  the  First 
Division  (General  James  T.  Pratt's),  were  within  its  limits.  The  First 
Brigade  contained  the  1st,  6th,  14th,  17th,  and  25th  regiments  of  in- 
fantry, and  the  1st  and  4th  regiments  of  cavalry.  There  were  160 
companies  in  the  State ;  40  of  which,  or  more,  were  un-uniformed. 

The  following  lists  of  general  and  field  officers  who  commanded 
organizations  formed  in  this  county  under  the  scheme  of  1815  are 
mostly  compiled  from  official  manuscript  records. 


THE   MILITIA. 


183 


Brigadier-Generals  of  Artillery  (one  Brigade  in  the  State). 


David  Deming, 
Nathan  Johnson, 
Philo  Harrison, 


1816-1820 
1820-1828 
1828-1829 


Ely  A.  Elliott,  1829-1832 

Oliver  Warner,  1832-1836 

Ezra  L.  H.  Chamberlain,        1836-1838 


Commanders  of  the  Second  Light  Artillery  Regiment. 


Col.  Nathan  Johnson,  1816-1 820 

"    Amaziah  Bray,  1820-1821 

"    Giles  Olmstead,  1821-1822 

"    Decius  Humphrey,  1822-1826 

"    Ely  A.  Elliott  1826-1829 

"    Solomon  Olmstead  1829-1834 


Col.  William  Mather,  Jr.,  1834-1838 
"  Ezra  L.  H.  Chamberlain,  1838-1839 
"    Joseph  A.  Welles,  1839-1841 

"    Norman  W.  Spencer,      1841-1842 

Maj.  Asa  Bartholomew,  1842-1844 


Brigadier-Generals  of  Cavalry  (one  Brigade  in  the  State). 
Stephen  H.  Palmer,  1816-1817  |  Daniel  H.  Brinsmade,  1817-1821 

Commanders  of  the  First  Regiment  of  Cavalry. 


Lt.-Col.  Jonath.  Bartlett, 
Col.  Peter  B.  Gleason, 

Epaphras  H.  Phelps, 

John  Collins, 

Sam.  Belcher, 

Miles  Foote, 

Orrin  Holt, 


1815- 

-1817 

1817- 

-1821 

1821- 

-1824 

1824- 

-1825 

1824- 

-1829 

1829- 

-1831 

1831- 

-1833 

Col.  Oliver  C.  Phelps,  Jr.,  1833-1835 

"  James  T.  Pratt,  1835-1836 

"  James  F.  Skinner,  1836-1839 

"  WTilliam  A.  Foster,  1839-1841 

"  Samuel  W.  Thompson,  1841-1843 

"  Jeremiah  A.  Tuller,  1843-1845 

"  Hezekiah  K.  Sears,  1846-1847 


Commanders  of  the  Brigade  of  Riflemen  (one  Brigade  in  the  State). 
Br.-Gen.  Chauncey  Whittlesey,  1816-20  |  Br.-Gen.  Enos  H.  Buell,        1 820-1 82 1 

Commanders  of  the  Second  Regiment  of  Riflemen. 

Col.  John  Buckingham,         1816-1818  |  Col.  Lemuel  G.  Storrs,  1820-1821 

"    Enos  H.  Buell, 


Some  notable  "  general  trainings  "  of  the  First  Brigade  took  place 
in  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  Windsor,  and  East  Hartford.  There  were 
also  military  displays  on  special  occasions.  In  June,  1817,  three  ar- 
tillery companies  (of  Hartford,  East  Hartford,  and  Simsbury),  under 
command  of  Colonel  Nathan  Johnson,  the  First  Regiment  of  infantry 
(Colonel  James  Loomis),  and  a  battalion  of  cavalry  (Colonel  Peter  B. 
Gleason)  were  reviewed  in  Hartford  by  President  James  Monroe.  In 
September,  1824,  artillery,  cavalry,  and  infantry  companies — about 
twelve  hundred  soldiers  in  all,  at  Hartford,  under  command  of  General 
Johnson  —  escorted  Lafayette,  with  credit  to  the  occasion.  In  June, 
1833,  President  Jackson  and  Vice-president  Van  Buren  were  escorted 
in  Hartford  by  eleven  companies. 

In  1837  General  Pratt's  brigade  appeared,  in  a  general  training,  at 
Hartford.  There  were  the  1st,  6th,  14th,  17th,  and  25th  regiments  of 
infantry ;  the  1st  and  14th  of  cavalry ;  and  the  Second  Battalion  (an- 
nexed to  1st  regiment  of  infantry)  of  light  artillery.  The  brigade  made 
a  fine  showing ;  but  it  is  said  that  it  did  not  equal,  in  numbers  and  mili- 
tary bearing,  that  of  its  [last  great  parade,  in  October,  1843 ;  Avhen 
there  were  5,200  men,  in  all  arms,  assembled  in  the  north  meadows 


184  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

of  East  Hartford.  Major-General  Pratt  and  Brigadier-General  George 
C.  Owen  were  in  command ;  and  the  force  was  reviewed  by  Colonel 
Richard  M.  Johnson,  the  reputed  slayer  of  Tecumseh,  and  Ex- Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States. 

In  1846  the  militia  reached  the  highest  number  ever  attained  in 
this  State.  There  were:  of  the  infantry,  53,191 ;  riflemen,  1,704  ;  light 
artillery,  1,575;  "horse  artillery,"  508;  cavalry,  692  men.  The  great 
number  and  efficiency  of  the  uniformed  soldiery  were  largely  due  to  the 
efforts  of  Adjutant-General  Charles  T.  Hillyer,  then  of  East  Granby, 
and  Major-General  James  T.  Pratt,  then  of  Rocky  Hill. 

In  1847  the  militia  was  divided  into  two  classes,  —  the  active,  and 
the  inactive,  or  enrolled.  The  active  was  that  portion  who,  as  volun- 
teers, organized  for  military  duty.  The  inactive  members  were  those 
who,  by  payment  of  a  military  commutation  tax,  became  exempted 
from  such  duty.  The  active  militia  was  formed  into  one  division  of 
two  brigades  ;  each  brigade  having  four  regiments,  one  for  each  county. 
The  first  brigade  included  the  counties  of  Hartford,  New  London,  Tol- 
land, and  Windham.  In  July,  1847,  the  "  uniformed  "  companies  in 
Hartford  County  were  as  follows  :  — 

Infantry  :  Capt.  Jacob  B.  Case,  Simsbury,  47  men ;  Capt.  Henry  B. 
Grosvenor,  Suffield,  32  men;  Capt.  Roswell  G.  Talcott,  Glastonbury,  27  men; 
Capt.  Hial  Grannis,  Southington,  28  men  ;  Capt.  Horace  Hollister,  South  Glas- 
tonbury, 27  men;  Capt.  Levi  0.  Smith,  New  Britain,  22  men;  Capt.  Elisha 
Hopkins,  Broad  Brook,  29  men ;  Capt.  William  Wheeler,  Plainville,  25  men. 

Cavalry:  Capt.  Levi  Prosser,  Bloomfield,  52  men;  Capt.  Franklin  W. 
Adams,  Hartford,  34  men ;  Capt.  Merritt  Doan,  Windsor,  28  men ;  Capt. 
Henry  Luce,  Newington,  21  men;  Capt.  Anson  T.  Clark,  Berlin,  13  men. 

Light  Artillery  :  Capt.  Martin  0.  Hills,  East  Hartford,  40  men ;  Capt. 
Elisha  S.  Olmstead,  Hartford,  28  men. 

Riflemen  :  Capt.  Charles  M.  Collins,  Scitico,  33  men ;  Capt.  Lucius  M. 
Andrews,  Bristol,  19  men. 

There  were  no  general  officers  of  artillery  after  1838,  nor  field 
officers  after  1844 ;  no  general  officers  of  cavalry  after  1821,  nor  field 
officers  after  1847 ;  no  general  nor  field  officers  of  riflemen  after 
1821.  These  several  arms  of  the  service  were  "annexed"  to  brigades 
or  regiments  of  infantry. 

Under  the  new  system  all  the  un-uniformed  and  most  of  the  uni- 
formed companies  were  speedily  disbanded.  In  1848  the  cavalry 
companies  ("dragoons")  of  Bloomfield,  Hartford,  and  Wethersfield 
(Newington)  were  disbanded.  That  at  Enfield  was  disbanded  in  1850, 
and  that  at  Manchester  in  1851.  I  suppose  these  latter  to  have  been  un- 
uniformed.  The  infantry  companies  of  Southington,  South  Glastonbury, 
and  East  Windsor  (Broad  Brook)  were  disbanded  in  1848 ;  those  at 
Plainville  and  New  Britain,  in  1850  ;  that  at  Avon  in  1852.  The  rifle 
companies  of  Burlington,  Collinsville,  and  EastLIartford  were  disbanded 
in  1847  ;  that  at  Enfield  (Scitico),  the  last  one  in  the  county,  in  1851. 
The  artillery  company  at  Simsbury  was  disbanded  in  1850.  There  was 
not  at  this  time  a  company  of  the  old  infantry  in  the  town  of  Hart- 
ford, nor  was  there  any  cavalry  in  the  county.  The  only  remaining 
artillery  companies  (those  at  Hartford  and  East  Hartford)  were 
disbanded  in  1853.  There  still  remained,  in  1850,  of  the  infantry 
uniformed  companies  of  1847,  one  each  at  Simsbury,  Suffield,  Glaston- 


THE  MILITIA. 


185 


bury,  and  Windsor.  This  docs  not  include  "  independent "  companies. 
Manchester,  Canton,  and  Farmington,  whose  companies  were  not 
among  those  reported  as  "  uniformed "  in  1847,  each,  as  I  suppose, 
ceased  to  maintain  its  infantry  company  in  1853,  or  earlier.  To  show 
the  falling  off  in  the  organized  militia  under  the  "  voluntary  "  system, 
it  will  be  sufficient  to  state  that  in  1853  the  number  of  enrolled  (un- 
organized) militia  of  the  county  was  12,997  ;  while  the  organized,  for  the 
four  counties  constituting  the  First  Brigade,  numbered  but  969  in  all. 

A  list  of  the  general  officers  for  this  county  may  well  be  given  here. 
Among  the  major-generals  we  include  two  (the  first  on  the  list),  who, 
while  residing  without  this  county,  held  commands  coextensive  with 
the  limits  of  the  State.     The  others  commanded  the  First  Division. 


Major-Generals. 

David  Wooster,1 

1776-1777 

Walter  Booth, 

1830-1834 

James  Wadsworth, 

1777-1792 

William  Hayden, 

1834-1836 

Samuel  Wyllys, 

1792-1796 

Samuel  L.  Pitkin, 

1836-1838 

Noah  Phelps, 

1796-1799 

James  T.  Pratt, 

1838-1847 

Henry  Champion, 

1799-1801 

Erancis  Bacon, 

1847-1850 

Elijah  Chapman, 

1801-1803 

(But  one  division  after  1847.) 

Shubael  Griswold, 

1803-1807 

William  T.  King, 

1850-1852 

Solomon  Cowles, 

1807-1816 

Thomas  Guyer, 

1852-186K?) 

Levi  Lusk, 

1816-1820 

James  T.  Pratt  (declined) 

1861 

Martin  Kellogg,  Jr., 

1820-1824 

William  H.  Russell, 

1862-1870 

George  Cowles, 

1824-1827 

James  McCord, 

1870 

Dennis  Kimberly, 

1827-1830 

(No  division  after  1870.) 

Brigadier-Generals  of  the  Seventh  Brigade. 

Roger  Welles, 

1793-1795 

Epaphroditus  Champion, 

1799-1802 

George  Phillips, 

1795 

Solomon  Cowles, 

1802-1807 

Henry  Champion,  2d, 

1795-1799 

Seth  Overton, 

1807-1809 

Samuel  W.  Dana, 

1799 

Levi  Lusk, 

1809-1817 

Brigadier-Generals  of  the  First  Brigade. 

Erastus  Wolcott, 

1776-1781 

James  T.  Pratt, 

1836-1838 

Roger  Newberry, 

1781-1788 

Ralph  Watson, 

1839-1840 

John  Chester, 

1788-1789 

Leonard  R,  Welles, 

1840-1842 

Samuel  Wyllys, 

1789-1792 

George  C.  Owen, 

1842-1844 

Noah  Phelps, 

1792-1796 

Jarvis  Case, 

1844-1845 

Elijah  Chapman,  Jr., 

1797-1801 

Nathan  M.  Waterman, 

1845-1846 

Shubael  Griswold, 

1801-1803 

Ezekiel  Horsford, 

1846-1847 

Chauncey  Pettibone, 

1803-1805 

N.  M.  Waterman, 

1847-1848 

John  Phillips, 

1805-1807 

David  Young, 

1848-1850 

Timothy  Burr, 

1807-1809 

Elijah  W.  Smith, 

1850-1852 

Charles  Jenks, 

1809-1812 

Elihu  Geer, 

1852-1861 

Moses  Try  on,  Jr., 

1813-1817 

(No  organization  1861-1865.) 

Martin  Kellogg,  Jr., 

1817-1820 

Charles  H.  Prentice, 

1866-1868 

George  Cowles, 

1820-1824 

John  N.  Bunnell, 

1868-1871 

Ezra  Adams,  Jr., 

1824-1829 

(But  one  brigade  after  1871.) 

Chester  Grannis, 

1829-1832 

Robert  B.  Craufurd, 

1871-1875 

Orrin  Holt, 

1832-1833 

William  Randel  Smith, 

1875-1878 

William  Hayden, 

1833-1835 

Stephen  R.  Smith, 

1878-1885 

Samuel  L.  Pitkin, 

1835-1836 

Charles  P.  Graham, 

1885- 

1  Wooster  was  appointed  "  Senior  Major-General." 


186 


MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


The  light-infantry  company  in  Hartford,  known  as  the  "  Hartford 
Light  Guard,"  has  not  been  heretofore  mentioned,  because  it  was,  to  a 
certain  extent,  "  independent,"  and  classed  as  such.  It  attained  to  a 
high  degree  of  discipline,  and  was  the  pride  of  Hartford.  Organized  in 
1835  as  the  Third  Light  Infantry  company,  it  became  Co.  G  of  tne  First 
Regiment,  in  1853  ;  Co.  A,  in  1859  ;  Co.  B,  in  1862 ;  and  was  disbanded 
in  1863.     Its  commanding  officers  were  :  — 

Capt. 


Eoswell  B.  Ward, 

1835 

Capt.  Joseph  Ritter, 

1853 

Thomas  H.  Seymour, 

1837 

"    George  S.  Burnham, 

1854 

Daniel  S.  Dewey, 

1841 

"    Levi  Wooclhouse, 

1856 

William  S.  Roberts, 

1842 

"    George  S.  Burnham, 

1857 

Thomas  H.  Seymour, 

1843 

"    Levi  Woodhouse, 

1858 

N.  Seymour  Webb, 

1849 

"    John  C.  Comstock, 

1861 

Joseph  D.  Williams, 

1851 

"    James  W.  Gore, 

1862 

Captain  Ward  was  a  graduate  of  Capt.  Alden  Partridge's  Military 
School,  and  a  brother  of  the  late  Capt.  James  H.  Ward,  U.  S.  N.  Capt. 
Thomas  H.  Seymour,  from  the  same  school,  belonged  to  a  family  noted 

for  its  military  training  and 
spirit.  He  afterward  became 
the  commander  of  the  Ninth 
(New  England)  Regiment,  in 
the  war  with  Mexico,  and  was 
a  gallant  and  chivalrous  offi- 
cer. Captain  Comstock  went 
into  service  in  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion,  as  captain  of  Co.  A 
of  the  First  Regiment  of 
Connecticut  Volunteers,  and 
died  in  the  service.  Cap- 
tains Burnham  and  Wood- 
house  became  colonels  in 
the  same  service  ;  and  many 
other  officers  of  this  com- 
pany distinguished  them- 
selves in  the  war.  Captain 
Williams  was  adjutant-gen- 
eral during  the  war  period. 

In  1853  an  Irish-Ameri- 
can company  was  organized 
at  Hartford,  in  place  of  the 
disbanded  Co.  F,  of  Farm- 
ington.  Its  captain  was 
Edward  McManus  ;  it  was 
disbanded  in  1855.  A  com- 
pany of  infantry,  organized 
at  New  Britain  in  1850  (?),  under  Capt.  Joshua  R.  King,  became  Co.  A, 
and  was  known  as  the  "  New  Britain  Grays."  It  was  disbanded  in  1859. 
A  cavalry  company  was  organized  at  Hartford  in  1855,  under  Capt. 
Horace  Ensworth.  It  disbanded,  and  was  succeeded,  in  1856,  by  a  like 
company  at  Ilartland,  under  Capt.  Almon  C.  Banning;  the  latter  com- 
pany disbanding  in  1861.     In  1856  artillery  Company  A,  at  Hartford, 


COLONEL   THOMAS   II.  SETMOUB. 


THE   MILITIA.  187 

organized  under  Capt.  Joseph  Pratt.  When  it  disbanded,  in  1861,  it 
was  commanded  by  Horace  Ensworth.  It  was  known  as  the  "Seymour 
Light  Artillery."  The  "  Colt  Guard,"  Co.  B,  infantry,  organized  at  Hart- 
ford, in  1858,  under  Capt.  J.  Dcane  Alden,  was  armed  with  the  tw  Colt  " 
rifle.  It  continued  until  1861.  Other  companies  which  lived  until  1861 
were :  Co.  D,  of  Windsor  Locks  (organized  in  1852,  under  Capt.  Daniel 
Porter),  and  Co.  E,  of  Suffield  (organized  in  1855,  under  Capt.  John  M. 
Hathaway).  But  four  companies,  250  officers  and  men,  all  told,  remained 
to  1861.     But  one,  the  Light  Guard,  remained  to  1862. 

In  the  mean  time,  in  1861,  Artillery  Company  A,  known  as  the 
"  Hartford  City  Guard,"  was  organized,  under  the  captaincy  of  Charles 
H.  Prentice.  It  became  the  "  crack  "  company  of  Hartford.  It  was 
changed  to  an  infantry  company  in  1863.  Lieutenants  L.  A.  Dickinson 
and  John  H.  Burnham,  and  others  of  its  officers,  joined  the  Volunteer 
forces  in  the  Civil  War,  and  served  with  distinction.  It  became  Battery 
D,  Light  Artillery,  in  1865,  and  so  remained  until  1871.  During  this 
period  of  six  years  it  was  a  part  of  the  Third  Regiment.  It  began  as 
Company  F  of  the  First,  in  1871,  and  so  remains  to-day.  Its  captains 
have  been :  Charles  H.  Prentice,  1861-1863 ;  Solomon  P.  Conners, 
1863 ;  John  K.  Williams,  1863-1869 ;  John  L.  White,  1869-1880  ; 
Levi  H.  Hotchkiss,  1880-1882 ;  Charles  E.  Thompson,  1882-1881 ; 
Alexander  Allen,  1881- 

Among  the  companies  organized  since  1862  many  have  disappeared, 
and  others  have  taken  their  places,  and  the  letters  by  which  they  were 
designated.  We  give  the  dates  of  the  advent  and  exit  of  the  disbanded 
companies,  with  the  name  of  the  earliest  captain  of  each  respectively : 
Co.  C,  Southington,  Capt.  John  T.  Lee,  1862-1871 ;  Rifle  Co.  A,  Enfield, 
Capt.  Walter  A.  Luce,  1863-1871  (?)  ;  Co.  F,  Wethcrsficld,  Capt. 
Edward  G.  Woodhouse,  1864-1870  ;  Co.  E,  Collinsvillc,  Capt.  W.  H. 
Parmelec,  1865-1871 ;  Co.  G,  Hartford  (Buckingham  Rifles),  Capt. 
Benjamin  F.  Proutv,  1865-1871 ;  Co  H,  Avon,  Capt.  H.  H.  Pierce, 
1865-1870;  Co.  I,  Unionville,  Capt.  J.  X.  Bunnell,  1865-1871;  Co.  K, 
Burlington,  Capt.  F.  W.  Sessions,  1865-1871;  Co.  A,Farmington,  Capt. 
Edward  E.  Warren,  1866-1871;  Battery  E,  New  Britain,  Capt.  George 
Iladley,  1869-1875  ;  Company  I,  Windsor  Locks  (Dexter  Guard),  Capt. 
Joseph  Reed,  1878-1880. 

Since  1865  the  term  "  militia "  has  been  dropped,  by  legislative 
enactment,  and  that  of  the  "  Connecticut  National  Guard  "  substituted 
therefor.  Since  1871  one  regiment,  each  of  ten  companies,  having  not 
more  than  101  men,  rank  and  file,  per  company,  has  been  the  quota  for 
each  Congressional  district.  Two  sections  of  artillery  were  then  au- 
thorized. In  1881  the  latter  branch  was  changed  to  one  battery,  of 
three  platoons,  of  light  artillery,  which  is  now  drawn  by  horses.  A 
"  machine-gun  platoon,"  having  a  Gatling  gun,  is  all  that  represents 
this  latter  branch  of  the  service  in  this  county. 

The  companies  of  the  Connecticut  National  Guard,  now  (1886)  in 
Hartford  County,  are  as  follows:  Co.  A  (the  Gcrmania  Guard),  of 
Hartford,  organized  in  1871,  under  Captain  William  Westphal ;  Co.  B 
(the  Hillyer  Guard),  organized  in  1865,  under  Capt.  H.  F.  Chandler; 
Co.  D  (City  Guard),  New  Britain,  organized  in  1863,  under  Capt.  L.  L. 
Sperry ;  Co.  E  (Jewell  Guard),  New  Britain,  organized  in  1871,  under 
Capt.  C.  B.  Erichson;  Co.  F  (Hartford  City  Guard),  organized  in  1861, 
under  Capt.  Charles  H.  Prentice ;  Co.  G  (Manchester  Rifles),  Manchester. 


188  MEMORIAL  HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

organized  in  1871,  under  Capt.  Philip  W.  Hudson ;  Co.  H  (Hartford 
Light  Guard),  Hartford,  organized  in  1872,  under  Capt.  Charles  O'Neile, 
Jr. ;  Co.  K,  Hartford,  organized  in  1879,  under  Capt.  Thomas  M.  Smith. 
The  foregoing  constitute  the  First  Regiment  of  the  Connecticut  National 
Guard.  There  is  also  a  company  of  colored  men,  being  Co.  B,  of  the 
Fifth  Battalion  Connecticut  National  Guard.  It  was  organized  in  1870, 
under  Capt.  Lloyd  G.  Seymour,  at  Hartford.  Co.  C,  a  Rockville  com- 
pany, annexed  to  the  First  Regiment  in  1871,  was  not  in  this  county. 

The  fife  and  drum  were  for  many  years  the  only  authorized  music 
for  the  militia,  —  if  we  except  the  bugle,  which  sounded  the  "  calls," 
much  as  they  are  sounded  to-day.  But  in  1841  regimental  "bands" 
were  authorized ;  to  consist  of  not  less  than  twelve  nor  more  than 
twenty-live  musicians.  Each  "  captain  "  of  a  band  was  made  a  warrant 
officer.  In  1871  the  maximum  number  of  members  was  fixed  at  twenty, 
and  the  drum-major  and  fife-major  were  made  non-commissioned  officers 
of  the  regimental  staff. 

Discipline.  The  earliest  manual  of  military  instruction  in  use  in 
the  colony  was  that  of  Colonel  Humphrey  Bland,  an  Englishman,  in 
1743.  The  "  Norfolk  Militia  Exercise  "  took  its  place  in  1769.  In  1775 
the  "Manual  Exercise  ordered  by  his  Majesty  in  1764"  was  adopted. 
The  tactics  of  the  Baron  Yon  Steuben  were  adopted  in  1779,  and  were 
the  standard  for  many  years ;  Harrow's  were  adopted  in  1824.  Those 
of  the  Regular  army,  and  of  Scott,  Hardee,  Casey,  and  Upton  have  since 
been  adopted  successively.  At  present  the  tactics  of  the  army  of  the 
United  States  are  the  standard  for  this  State. 

The  changes  which  have  been  made  in  the  manual  of  arms  may  be 
illustrated,  to  some  extent,  by  a  citation  or  two.  In  1813  the  commands 
were  successively  as  follows :  shoulder,  present,  secure,  advance,  sup- 
port, carry,  slope,  and  port  arms.  In  Upton's  Tactics  (edition  of  1867) 
they  are: 'support,  carry,  present,  order,  carry,  etc.  For  loading,  the 
commands,  in  1813,  were  :  load-arms  ;  open-pan  ;  handle-cartridge ; 
open-cartridge  ;  prime  ;  shut-pan  ;  about ;  charge  ;  draw-rammer  ;  ram- 
cartridge  ;  return-rammer;  ready,  etc.  In  Upton,  they  are:  load; 
handle-cartridge  ;  tear-cartridge  ;  charge-cartridge  ;  draw-rammer ; 
ram-cartridge;  return-rammer;  prime;  carry-arms;  ready,  etc.  For 
the  repeating  rifle,  the  commands,  load,  and  ready,  are  all  that  precede 
those  for  firing. 

Army  Regulations  were  first  enacted  in  1775.  Those  governing  our 
militia  to-day  were  prepared  in  1884,  by  a  commission  appointed  by  the 
Commander-in-Chief.    They  are  based  upon  those  of  Massachusetts. 


Note  1  (p.  176).  —  Though  these  probably  were  not  more  effective  or  of  larger  calibre 
than  the  "two  drakes  lent  to  the  plantations  at  Conecticott,  to  fortifie  themselves  withall,"  by 
order  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  September,  1635,  —  with  six  barrels  of  powder 
and  "  200  shot,  with  other  implements  belonging  to  the  peeces,"  etc.  {Mass.  Accords,  1.  148, 

1  (\f\\    —  T    TT    T1 

Note  2  (p.  176).  —  Capt.  John  Chester,  of  Wethersfield,  who  commanded  a  company  at 
Bunker  Hill,  in  a  letter  giving  an  account  of  the  battle,  wrote  (July,  1775)  that  when  ordered  by 

Gen.  Putnam  to  march  to  the  hill  to  oppose  the  enemy  :  "  I  waited  not We  soon  marched 

with  our  frocks  and  trowsers  on  over  our  other  clothes  (for  our  Company  is  in  uniform  wholly 
Blue  turned  up  with  Red),  for  we  were  loath  to  expose  ourselves  by  our  dress,     etc.  —J.  ±i.  1. 


THE  MILITIA.  189 

HARTFORD'S   INDEPENDENT  MILITARY  COMPANIES. 

BY   VARIOUS   CONTRIBUTORS. 

The  Governor's  Foot  Guard.  —  After  the  French  and  Indian  War 
the  peaceful  condition  of  the  Colony  made  military  duty,  not  enforced 
by  proper  discipline,  largely  a  farce.  There  were  numerous  companies 
without  uniformity  of  dress  or  arms.  It  was  the  duty  of  a  selected 
company  to  attend  upon  the  opening  of  the  General  Assembly  and  to 
escort  the  governor  on  "  Election  Day,"  as  inauguration  day  was  always 
styled.  The  demoralization  had  gone  so  far  that  in  1768  the  Hartford 
company  designated  for  the  purpose  appeared  in  fantastic  dress  and 
turned  the  parade  into  one  of  the  "  antique  and  horrible  "  sort.  The 
proceedings  were  so  disgraceful  that  the  General  Assembly  appointed 
a  committee  "  to  take  notice  of  and  resent  the  disrespect  and  indignity 
shewn  them  by  the  military  company  ordered  to  serve  and  while  serving 
as  a  guard  to  his  Honour  the  Governor,  etc.,  on  the  day  of  the  last 
general  election."  As  a  result  of  the  investigation  which  followed, 
the  officers  and  sergeants  were  mildly  exonerated  from  blame,  and  the 
other  members  of  the  company  signed  an  humble  apology,  confessing 
their  "  great  misconduct  and  aggravated  offense,  and  imploring  the 
forgiveness  of  the  Assembly,"  which  was  granted  upon  their  payment 
of  the  costs  of  the  prosecution.  For  the  next  two  years  an  East  Hart- 
ford company  was  called  out  for  escort  duty  on  Election  Day. 

Meantime  the  leading  young  men  of  Hartford,  desirous  of  retrieving 
the  good  name  of  the  city,  decided  to  organize  a  select  company  for 
the  purpose  of  doing  the  honors  to  the  governor  and  the  General  As- 
sembly in  a  proper  manner.  On  Oct.  2,  1771,  Samuel  Wyllys  and 
forty-three  others  petitioned  the  Assembly,  setting  forth  that :  — 

"It  is  with  Considerable  Expense  and  Trouble  that  the  Standing  Military 
Companies  in  Hartford  Equip  themselves  to  wait  on  the  General  Assembly,  and 
that  their  Turns  come  but  Once  in  many  years,  and  that  it  is  with  Difficulty  they 
are  able  to  perform  said  duty  so  as  to  do  Honour  to  the  Ceremony,  and  that  your 
memorialists  Conceive  it  would  be  for  the  Honour  of  the  Government  that  a  com- 
pany be  Constituted  to  perform  said  Service  and  Ceremony  Constantly,"  etc. 

The  prayer  of  the  memorialists  was  granted,  and  a  military  com- 
pany organized  named  the  "  Governor's  Guard."  The  company  adopted 
for  its  original  uniform  one  copied  from  that  of  the  famous  British 
Grenadiers,  now  known  as  the  "  First  Regiment  of  Foot  Guards,"  of 
England,  and  this  uniform  has  been  maintained  and  worn  on  State 
occasions  to  the  present  day.     The  original  incorporators  were  :  — 

Samuel  Wyllys,  James  Tiley,  Daniel  Cotton,  Eliakim  Fish,  Hezekiah  Wyllys, 
Daniel  Goodwin,  Jr.,  Nathaniel  Goodwin,  Timothy  Ledlie,  James  Jepson,  Caleb 
Bull,  Jr.,  Joseph  Church,  Jr.,  William  Lawrence,  John  Caldwell,  Elihu  Eggleston, 
John  Nevins,  Israel  Seymour,  Ebenezer  Austin,  Stephen  Austin,  Charles  Hopkins, 
Elisha  Burnham,  John  Lawrence,  Jr.,  Edward  Bodge,  Elisha  Lord,  Hezekiah 
Merrells,  Samuel  Burr,  John  Calder,  Nathaniel  Skinner,  James  Bull,  Austin 
Ledyard,  Frederick  Bull,  William  Knox,  Ebenezer  Watson,  Joseph  Reed, 
Epaphras  Bull,  Consider  Burt,  Cotton  Murray,  Benjamin  Morrison,  James  Adams, 


190  MEMORIAL- HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

William  Bull,  Jonathan  Butler,  Jonathan  Bull,  Bevil  Waters,  Aaron  Seymour, 
James  Humphrey,  Isaac  Vaughan,  Lemuel  Steel,  John  Dodd,  Timothy  Steel, 
Elisha  Dodd,  Richard  Skinner,  Jonathan  Steel,  Thomas  Sloan,  Bobert  Sloan, 
James  Bunce,  Jr.,  Samuel  Kilhourn,  Noah  Washburn,  Thomas  Steel,  Moses 
Kellogg,  Thomas  Converse,  Abel  Stone,  Daniel  Skinner,  Jr.,  Edward  Dodd,  Jr., 
Theodore  Skinner,  Ozias  Goodwin,  Jr.,  and  John  Cook.1 

That  the  company  was  regarded  as  a  regular  part  of  the  military 
force  of  the  colony  is  shown  by  the  colonial  records,  by  which  it  appears 
that  the  officers  were  appointed  or  "  established  "  in  precisely  the  same 
form  as  all  other  military  officers  of  the  colony.2  The  company  is  thus 
proven  to  have  been  the  pioneer  of  uniformed  companies  in  this  colony, 
and  its  organization  marks  a  distinct  advance  toward  the  orderly  and 
efficient  military  system  of  to-day. 

Samuel  Wyllys  was  the  first  captain.  The  company's  first  parade 
was  as  escort  for  Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull  and  the  General  Assem- 
bly, on  the  second  Thursday  of  May,  1772.  Six  months  before,  it  had  at 
its  own  expense  secured  a  handsome  uniform,  "  scarlet  coat,  faced  with 
black  with  silver  braid,  buff  knee-breeches,  black  velvet  leggings,  and 
bear-skin  hat."  The  Assembly  was  so  well  pleased  with  this  first  ap- 
pearance of  the  new  command  that  it  placed  on  record  a  complimen- 
tary resolution  to  that  effect.  A  committee  was  also  appointed  to 
procure  "  from  Bristol,  or  such  other  place  in  Great  Britain  where  they 
be  had  on  the  best  terms,"  "  sixty-four  plain,  decent,  and  sizable  stands 
of  arms  to  equip  said  company."  3 

In  1775  a  similar  company  was  organized  in  New  Haven,  and  the 
Hartford  company  was  styled  "  First  Company  Governor's  Guard."  In 
1788  the  name  of  the  original  company  Avas  amended  to  the  form  which 
it  has  ever  since  retained,  "  First  Company  Governor's  Foot  Guard." 

In  May,  1802,  upon  the  petition  of  Captain  Nathaniel  Terry,  it  was 
ordered  that  "  in  future  the  company  shall  consist  of  captain,  two  lieu- 
tenants, an  ensign,  eight  sargeants,  eight  corporals,  a  band  of  music  of 
fourteen  musicians,  six  fifers,  four  drummers,  and  ninety-six  privates." 

In  1809  the  rank  of  the  commanding  officer  was  made  major,  a 
deserved  compliment  to  Captain  Nathaniel  Terry,  the  grandfather  of 
Major-General  Alfred  H.  Terry,  of  the  regular  army. 

In  addition  to  its  other  duties  the  Guard  has  performed  escort  duty 
upon  many  memorable  and  historic  occasions  "  for  the  Honour  of  the 
State,"  and  in  honor  of  the  most  celebrated  characters  in  American 
history.  During  the  war  for  Independence,  and  in  obedience  to  the 
order  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the 
Guard  twice  performed  escort  duty  for  Washington,  Knox,  Lafayette, 
Admiral  Tiernay,  Rochambeau,  and  their  aides,  upon  the  occasion  of 
their  visits  to  Hartford  and  Wethersfield.  A  little  later  the  Guard 
escorted  the  governor  (Trumbull)  to  Danbury,  to  meet  the  Council  of 
Safety  ;  and  upon  his  final  retirement  from  public  life,  it  accompanied 
him  on  his  way  to  Lebanon. 

1  Captain  Wyllys,  John  Caldwell,  and  other  members  afterward  gained  distinction  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  Seventeen  years  later  a  number  of  the  same  men,  having  gained  in  age 
and  flesh  and  being  tired  of  marching  on  foot,  became  incorporators  of  the  First  Company  of 
Horse  Guards. 

2  See  page  111  of  the  Manuscript  Public  Records  of  Connecticut,  May,  1772;  also  Colonial 
Records,  vol.  xiii.  p.  581. 

3  Public  Records  Manuscript,  p.  125. 


INDEPENDENT  MILITARY  COMPANIES. 


191 


In  October,  1777,  the  Guard,  for  the  first  and  only  time  in  its  history, 
left  the  State  on  a  hostile  errand,  being  ordered  to  Saratoga  to  re- 
inforce the  Continental  army  under  General  Gates.  Of  this  event  the 
"  Connecticut  Courant "  (Aug.  2,  1831)  contains  an  account. 

This  gives  the  company  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  body  of 
State  troops  (excepting  volunteers  for  Federal  service)  that  ever  was 
ordered  outside  the  limits  of  the  State  against  an  enemy.  It  is  very 
rarely  that  any  of  the  State  troops  are  called  out  to  aid  in  keeping  the 
peace  within  the  State,  and  no  company  has  done  more  service  in  this 
way.  In  1811,  at  the  time  of  the  "  Hartford  Convention,"  it  was  held 
in  readiness  for  several  days  to  quell  an  expected  outbreak  between 
Federal  troops  and  citizens ; *  and  in  1834  it  was  called  out  to  suppress 
a  riot  in  Hartford. 

The  company  has  done  escort  duty  for  every  President  who  has 
visited  Hartford,  including  Washington,  John  Adams,  Monroe,  Jackson, 
Polk,  Johnson,  and  Grant.  It  escorted  Lafayette  twice  during  the  Rev- 
olution, and  again  in  1824.  It  took  part  in  the  Peace  celebration  of 
1815,  in  the  dedication  of  the  Groton  Monument  in  1826,  at  the  Bunker 
Hill  centennial  in  1875,  the  centennial  of  the  battle  of  Saratoga  in  1877, 
the  New  York  Evacuation  Day  centennial  in  1883,  the  Bi-centennial  of 
Worcester,  Mass.,  in  1884,  and  the  dedication  of  the  Washington  Monu- 
ment, in  1885.  It  was  also  a  part  of  the  grand  military  pageant  in  New 
York  at  the  funeral  of  General  Grant,  Aug.  8,  1885. 

It  is  the  boast  of  the  company  that  it  is  the  only  one  in  the  United 
States  that  has  had  an  unbroken  existence  for  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
years,  and  that  has  maintained  its  ancient  uniform. 

The  followino-  have  been  its  commanders  :  — 


Captain  Samuel  Wyllys,  1771-1777. 
Captain  Jonathan  Bull,  1777-1785. 
Captain  Charles  Hopkins,  1785-1795. 
Captain  George  Bull,  1795-1797. 
Captain  Joseph  Day,  1797-1798. 
Captain  Jesse  Root,  1798-1802. 
Captain  Nathaniel  Terry,2  1802-1813. 
Major  Isaac  D.  Bull,  1813-1816. 
Major  Richard  E.  Goodwin,  1816-1819. 
Major  James  M.  Goodwin,  1819-1823. 
Major  Lynde  Olmsted,  1823-1826. 
Major  Charles  Wells,  1826-1828. 
Major  George  Putnam,  1828-1830. 
Major  Jonathan  Goodwin,  1830-1832. 
Major  Edmund  B.  Stedman,  1832-1833. 
Major  Calvin  Day,  1833-1835. 
Major  James  G.  Bolles,  1835-1835. 
Major  Henry  Oakes,  1835-1836. 
Major  Griffin  A.  Stedman,  1836-1838. 


Major  Henry  L.  Miller,  1838-1838. 
Major  Roland  Mather,  1838-1840. 
Major  William  B.  Ely,  1840-1841. 
Major  Henry  P.  Averill,  1841-1843. 
Major  Henry  P.  Sweetser,  1843-1844. 
Major  Leonard  H.  Bacon,  1844-1847. 
Major  William  Conner,  Jr.,  1847-1850. 
Major  Leverett  Seymour,  1850-1861. 
Major  Jonathan  Goodwin,  1861-1862. 
Major  Lucius  E.  Hunt,  1862-1865. 
Major  Henry  C.  Ransom,  1865-1867. 
Major  Henry  P.  Barton,  1867-1871. 
Major  William  H.  Dodd,  1871-1874. 
Major  Charles  Osborne,  1874-1875. 
Major  John  C.  Parsons,  1875-1877. 
Major  William  H.  Talcott,  1877-1879. 
Major  George  B.  Fisher,  1879-1881. 
Major  A.  H.  Embler,  1881-1882. 
Major  John  C.  Kinney,  1882- 


The  present  line  officers  of  the  command  (1886)  arc :  Major,  J.  C. 
Kinney ;    Captain    and    First   Lieutenant,    James   C.    Pratt ;    Second 

1  "  Peter  Parley's  Recollections  of  a  Lifetime,"  vol.  ii.  p.  51.  The  company  was  ordered 
to  be  ready  to  respond  to  an  instant  call,  and,  to  prevent  their  arms  being  seized  in  advance 
by  rioters,  the  guns  and  ball  cartridges  were  locked  up  in  the  Hartford  Bank. 

2  Ranked  as  Major  from  May,  1809. 


192  MEMORIAL   HISTORY  OF    HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

Lieutenant,  Theodore  C.  Noedele ;  Third  Lieutenant  and  Adjutant,  J. 
Robert  Dwyer  ;  Fourth  Lieutenant,  Fayette  C.  Clark ;  Ensign,  Horace 
Lord ;  First  Sergeant,  G.  J.  A.  Nsedele. 

Goveenor's  Horse  Guard.  —  At  the  May  session  of  the  General 
Assembly  in  1788  a  memorial  was  presented  by  John  Caldwell  and 
others,  praying  that :  — 

"  They  may  have  a  separate  military  establishment  and  be  formed  into  a  troop 
of  Volunteer  Horse  or  Light  Dragoons,  to  be  called  by  the  name  of  the  '  Gov- 
ernor's Independent  Volunteer  Troop  of  Horse  Guards,'  whose  particular  duty 
shall  be  to  attend  upon  and  escort  the  Governor  of  this  State  in  times  of  peace 
and  Avar,  etc. 

"Dated  at  Hartford  the  1st  day  of  May,  a.d.  1788  :  — 

John  Caldwell,  Rich'd  Hart,  Caleb  Bull,  Jr., 

Charles  Phelps,  Tim.  Burr,  Chauncey  Goodrich, 

Peter  Colt,  Sam'l  Marsh,  Jr.,  Hez.  Merrell, 

Hez'h  Bull,  John  Chenevard,  Jr.,  Horatio  Wales, 

Asa  Hopkins,  Thos.  Y.  Seymour,  Jas.  Hart, 

Ehod.  Olcott,  John  Morgan,  Rich'd  Goodman, 

Wm.  Lawrence,  Oliver  Wolcott,  Jr.,  Dan'l  Goodman, 

Sam'l  Lawrence,  James  Bull,  Sam'l  Burr, 

Wm.  Knox,  Thos.  Bull,  Ashbell  Wells,  Jr. 

Bar's  Deane,  William  Mosely,  Ephraim  Root,  and 

Sam'l  Pomeroy. 

Several  of  these  signers  were  seventeen  years  before  charter  mem- 
bers of  the  First  Company  Governor's  Foot  Guard.  The  General  As- 
sembly granted  the  prayer,  and  passed  a  bill  constituting  the  company, 
with  the  name  of  the  "  Governor's  Independent  Volunteer  Troop  of 
Horse  Guards,"  to  be  "  subject  to  the  order  of  the  Governor,  and  to 
attend  upon  and  escort  him  in  time  of  peace  and  war,  .  .  .  and  said 
Troop  shall  consist  of  one  captain,  two  lieutenants,  one  cornet,  one 
quartermaster  sergeant,  three  drill  sergeants  and  four  corporals,  and 
sixty  privates."  The  bill  provided  for  the  election  of  officers  on  Mon- 
day, May  19,  1788.  The  records  show  that  the  election  was  presided 
over  by  "  Hez'h  Wyllys,  Lieutenant-Colonel  commanding  1st  Regt,"  and 
the  following  were  selected  the  first  officers  of  the  company :  captain, 
John  Caldwell;  first  lieutenant,  Thomas  Y.  Seymour;  second  lieutenant, 
Charles  Phelps ;  cornet,  Timothy  Burr ;  which  officers  were  duly  "  estab- 
lished "  by  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly  at  the  same  session,  the 
governor  at  the  time  being  Samuel  Huntington.  The  company  seems  to 
have  been  the  first  regularly  uniformed  cavalry  company  in  the  State. 

The  first  notable  parade  in  which  the  Horse  Guard  participated,  as 
far  as  is  known,  was  in  1798,  when  Washington,  then  ex-President,  made 
a  four  days'  visit  to  Hartford.  The  fact  of  the  Horse  Guard  escort  was 
mentioned  by  the  Father  of  his  Country  in  his  diary.  From  that  time 
they  have  taken  part  in  most  of  the  military  pageants  that  Hartford  has 
witnessed,  including  the  receptions  of  the  various  presidents  that  have 
visited  Hartford,  the  welcome  to  Lafayette  in  1824,  to  General  Jackson 
in  1833,  etc.  The  presence  of  the  two  companies  of  Horse  and  Foot 
Guards  has  been  a  part  of  the  inaugural  ceremonies  of  every  governor  of 
the  State,  when  held  in  Hartford,  from  the  time  of  their  organization  to 
the  present.     The  commanding  officers  have  been  as  follows  :  — 


INDEPENDENT   MILITARY   COMPANIES. 


193 


Major.  Date  of  service.  Major.  Date  of  service. 

John  Caldwell .     .     .     .  1788-1792.  James  Goodwin      .     .     .  1829-1832. 

Thomas  Y.  Seymour .     .  1792-1796.  Thomas  H.  Marshall  .     .  1832-1834. 

Joseph  Hart     ....  1796-1800.  William  J.  Denslow    .     .  1834-1835. 

George  Bull      ....  1800-1803.  Lester  Sexton    ....  1835-1838. 

Henry  Seymour    .     .     .  1803-1807.  Levi  T.  Skinner      .     .     .  1838-1839. 

Samuel  Ledlie .     .     .     .  1807-1810.  Allen  C.  Boardman      .     .  1839-1843. 

Michael  Olcott      .     .     .  1810-1811.  Stephen  H.  Marcy .     .     .  1843-1844. 

Joseph  Burnham  .     .     .  1811-1816.  I).  F.  Raphael    ....  1844-1846. 

Joseph  Kees1.     .     .     .  1816-  Henry  Boardman    .     .     .  1846-1861. 

Daniel  Buck    .     .     .     .  1816-1819.  James  Waters     .     .     .     .  1861-1871. 

Barzillai  D.  Buck      .     .  1819-1823.  Chauncey  B.  Boardman    .  1871-1886. 

John  E.  Hart  ....  1823-1826.  Frank  Cowles    ....  1886- 

James  T.  Pratt     .     .     .  1826-1829. 


Major  John  Caldwell,  the  first  commander,  was  a  prominent  Hart- 
ford merchant  engaged  in  the  West  India  trade.  He  was  the  first 
president  of  the  Hartford  Bank,  and  one  of  the  commissioners  that 
built  the  State  House  in  1794-1796.  Major  Thomas  Y.  Seymour,  who 
was  really  the  originator  of  the  company,  was  a  gentleman  by  birth 
and  education,  a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  He  had 
studied  military  science  in  France.  He  married  for  his  first  wife  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  Ledyard,  the  chief  victim  of  the  Groton  massacre. 
He  had  command  of  a  light  horse  company  in  the  Continental  army,  and 
was  an  aide  on  the  staff  of  General  Arnold  at  the  battle  of  Saratoga.  He 
appears  in  Trumbull's  painting  of  the  battle.  General  Burgoyne  pre- 
sented him  his  pistols  and  horse-equipments,  which  he  afterward  used 
while  in  command  of  the  Horse  Guard.  He  was  an  uncle  of  Governor 
Thomas  H.  Seymour. 

Major  Joseph  Hart  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  a  successful 
merchant,  and  was  at  one  time  candidate  for  governor. 

Major  Henry  Seymour  was  a  brother  of  the  second  commander,  and 
the  father  of  Thomas  H.  Seymour.  He  was  a  well-to-do  broker  and  a 
man  of  liberal  education. 

Major  James  T.  Pratt  is  still  living  at  Wethersfield  (1886).  He  was 
twenty-five  years  old  when  elected  major,  and  subsequently  became  major- 
general  commanding  a  division  of  the  State  militia.  He  has  been  can- 
didate for  governor,  has  held  many  positions  of  honor  and  trust,  has 
been  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  many  times,  Speaker  of  the 
House,  representative  to  Congress,  etc.  He  commanded  the  Horse 
Guard  on  the  occasion  of  Lafayette's  visit  to  Hartford  in  1824. 

Major  James  Goodwin  was  a  scion  of  one  of  Hartford's  oldest  fam- 
ilies and  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  place.  Major  Allen  C. 
Boardman,  an  excellent  officer,  was  the  father  of  Major  Chauncey  B. 
Boardman,  who,  after  commanding  the  company  for  fifteen  years,  re- 
signed January,  1886. 

The  Putnam  Phalanx.  —  In  August,  1858,  a  number  of  the  promi- 
nent citizens  of  Hartford  and  the  State,  for  the  purpose  of  reviving  the 
old  Continental  uniform,  and  also  to  aid  in  welcoming  home  ex-Governor 
Thomas  H.  Seymour,  when  he  should  return  from  his  mission  as  Min- 
ister to  Russia,  formed  an  organization  to  which  they  gave  the  name 


Died  in  command. 


VOL.    I.  — 13. 


194  MEMORIAL  HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

"  Putnam  Phalanx."  They  adopted  the  uniform  of  Washington's  army 
and  the  drill  of  1776.  The  organization  was  composed  of  two  compa- 
nies, forming  a  battalion,  having  a  major-commandant  and  the  usual 
company  officers.  The  first  major  was  Horace  Goodwin,  and  among 
the  members  were  Colonel  Samuel  Colt,  Isaac  W.  Stuart,  and  Henry  C. 
Deming,  three  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  Hartford,  the  last  two  noted 
orators. 

The  first  parade  was  Dec.  22,  1858,  in  uniforms  borrowed  from  the 
Amoskeag  Veterans  of  Manchester,  New  Hampshire,  to  receive  a  stan- 
dard presented  by  descendants  of  General  Israel  Putnam. 

On  Aug.  30,  1859,  occurred  the  reception  to  ex-Governor  Thomas 
H.  Seymour,  in  which  the  Phalanx  held  the  post  of  honor,  aided  by  the 
Seymour  Light  Artillery  and  the  military  and  civic  organizations  of 
Hartford.  The  following  October  the  Phalanx  visited  Bunker  Hill, 
Boston,  Charlestown,  and  Providence,  being  handsomely  entertained 
and  charming  every  place  with  their  fine  appearance  and  the  magic 
eloquence  of  Stuart  and  Deming.  The  story  of  the  excursion  is  pre- 
served in  a  volume  of  one  hundred  pages.  Since  that  time  many  places 
of  note  have  been  visited,  including  Atlanta,  Richmond,  Newburgh, 
Washington,  Mount  Vernon,  Niagara  Falls,  Montreal,  Portland,  New- 
buryport,  Saratoga,  Albany,  Newport,  and  Block  Island.  The  company 
participated  in  the  centennial  anniversaries  of  Concord,  Bunker  Hill, 
Philadelphia,  Bennington,  Stony  Point,  Portsmouth,  and  Greenwich, — 
the  last-named  occasion  celebrating  the  famous  ride  of  Putnam  down 
the  stone  steps  at  Horse-neck.  They  have  visited  Putnam's  grave, 
taken  part  in  the  dedication  of  the  statue  to  his  memory  which  stands 
in  Bushnell  Park,  and  are  at  present  engaged  in  an  effort  to  have  a 
worthy  monument  erected  to  his  memory. 

In  1877  the  General  Assembly  chartered  the  organization,  but  it  is 
not  a  part  of  the  State  military  force. 

The  commanding  officers  have  been  as  follows,  with  the  dates  of 
their  election :  — 

Horace  Goodwin,  Sept.    1,  1858.  Henry  Kennedy,  April  19,  1869. 

Allyn  S.  Stillman,  April  19,  1862.  H.  L.  Welch,  April  21,  1873. 

James  B.  Shultas,  June  11,  1863.  Henry  Kennedy,  April  20,  1874. 

Timothy  M.  Allyn,  April  19,  1864.  F.  M.  Brown,  Oct.    21,  1875. 

C.  C.  Burt,  May   14,  1867.  Alvin  Squire,  Feb.      7,  1883. 

Seth  E.  Marsh,  April  19,  1868.  Clayton  H.  Case,  Feb.      4,  1885. 

Cambridge  Guard. — This  is  a  company  composed  of  colored  citi- 
zens of  Hartford.  It  was  organized  in  1869,  and  has  maintained  an 
independent  existence  since  that  time.  The  officers  are  :  captain,  I.  L. 
Cambridge  ;  first  lieutenant,  Charles  Seymour  ;  second  lieutenant, 
Edward  Sweirs ;  orderly,  F.  H.  Freeman. 


CHAPTER    X. 


FREEMASONRY  AND   OTHER  SECRET  SOCIETIES  IN  THE 

COUNTY. 

BY   J.  K.  "WHEELER,    STEPHEN    TERRY,    AND    OTHERS. 

Freemasonry  was  introduced  into  the  county  in  1762,  when  a  char- 
ter was  issued  by  the  Right  Worshipful  Jeremy  Gridley,  Esq.,  Provin- 
cial Grand  Master  of  the  Society  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons  for 
North  America.  This  document  was  dated  March  21,  1762,  and  issued 
to  the  following  members  of  the  fraternity  residing  in  Hartford  :  John 
Townley,  William  Jepson,  Samuel  Olcott,  George  Caldwell,  Abraham 
Beach,  Thomas  Hopkins,  Jonathan  Wadsworth,  John  Ellery,  James 
Church,  Samuel  Flagg,  Eleazur  Pomeroy,  and  Thomas  Pay  son,  who 
were  afterward  known  as  St.  John's  Lodge  No.  4.  Mr.  John  Townley 
was  nominated  in  the  warrant  as  the  first  Worshipful  Master,  and  dele- 
gated with  authority  to  congregate  the  brethren  together,  and  himself 
to  select  two  wardens  and  other  officers  necessary  for  the  transaction  of 
business,  to  hold  office  for  one  year ;  after  which  the  lodge  was  annu- 
ally to  choose  its  officers  agreeably  to  the  custom  of  the  craft. 

The  first  meeting  was  convened  at  the  house  of  Hezekiah  Colyer, 
on  the  19th  of  January,  1763,  when  the  Worshipful  Master  appointed 
William  Jepson  for  his  senior  warden  ;  Samuel  Olcott,  junior  warden ; 
George  Caldwell,  treasurer ;  and  Abraham  Beach,  secretary.  By-laws 
were  at  this  time  adopted  for  the  government  of  the  lodge,  which  are 
noted  for  that  peculiar  quaintness  which  characterized  all  ancient 
masonic  documents,  as  well  as  the  high  tone  of  morality  that  pervaded 
them  ;  profanity  and  intemperance  being  strictly  forbidden,  and  any 
violation  subjecting  the  offender  to  discipline.  The  members  were 
cautioned  in  their  behavior,  and  especially  without  the  lodge,  "  that  no 
unjust  reflection  be  thrown  on  the  royal  art." 

The  meetings  were  continued  for  a  short  time  at  the  house  of  Heze- 
kiah Colyer,  then  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Flagg,  until  a  hall 
was  prepared  for  permanent  use.  This  was  located  at  the  "  Black 
Horse  Tavern,"  and  is  frequently  alluded  to  in  the  early  records  as 
"  the  Black  Horse,"  or  "  the  sign  of  the  black  horse,"  a  public-house 
situated  on  the  corner  of  Main  Street  and  Central  Row,  near  where  the 
Hartford  Trust  Company's  building  is  located.  The  meetings  were 
held  at  this  place  for  upwards  of  six  years,  and  the  lodge  continued  in 
a  very  flourishing  condition.  The  name  of  Israel  Putnam  frequently 
appears  as  a  visiting  brother,  first  recorded  at  the  third  meeting,  and 
occasionally  thereafter,  for  several  years.1 

It  was  the  custom  for  many  years,  and  stipulated  in  the  charter, 

1  This  is  said  to  be  the  first  positive  evidence  found  of  General  Putnam's  membership  in 
the  order. 


196  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

to  observe  the  festival  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  and  St.  John  the  Evan- 
gelist, which  has  now  fallen  into  disuse. 

In  1789  this  lodge  was  one  of  the  number  that  assisted  in  forming 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  Connecticut,  when  its  original  warrant  was  given 
up  and  a  new  charter  received  from  that  body,  dated  May  20,  1795, 
under  which  it  now  holds  its  authority.  At  this  time  it  took  the  name 
of  St.  John's  No.  4,  being  the  fourth  in  rank  in  the  State,  and  has  ever 
since  been  in  a  prosperous  condition.  Among  its  members  are  num- 
bered the  Hons.  Oliver  Wolcott,  Thomas  H.  Seymour,  and  Marshall 
Jewell,  —  ex-governors  of  the  State;  Henry  C.  Deming,  Gideon  Wells, 
Julius  L.  Strong,  John  R.  Buck,  and  William  H.  Bulkeley ;  also  Samuel 
G.  Goodrich,  otherwise  known  as  "  Peter  Parley,"  the  noted  author  and 
publisher,  and  very  many  others  prominent  and  more  or  less  identified 
with  the  interests  of  Hartford  and  vicinity.  Its  present  membership  is 
five  hundred  and  seven. 

Frederick  Lodge  No.  14  was  organized  Sept.  18,  1787,  by  several 
members  of  the  fraternity  residing  in  Farmington,  and  received  its 
charter  from  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Massachusetts,  and  at  its  first  meet- 
ing elected  the  following  officers :  William  Judd,  master ;  Timothy 
Hosmer,  senior  warden  ;  Reuben  Humphrey,  junior  warden  ;  John  Mix, 
treasurer;  Samuel  Richards,  Jr.,  secretary  ;  John  Hart,  senior  deacon  ; 
and  George  Humphrey,  junior  deacon.  Among  the  early  members  of 
this  lodge  are  the  names  of  several  who  had  been  prominently  identi- 
fied with  American  Union  Lodge,  a  military  lodge  attached  to  the  Con- 
necticut line  of  the  Revolutionary  army.  Most  prominent  are  the 
names  of  William  Judd,  Timothy  Hosmer,  Captain  Reuben  Humphrey, 
Lieutenant  John  Mix,  and  Dr.  John  Hart.  William  Judd  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  convention  that  organized  the  Grand  Lodge  in  1789,  was 
appointed  chairman  of  the  convention  and  elected  first  Grand  Master, 
which  position  he  occupied  for  seven  years,  and  was  then  succeeded  by 
Chief  Justice  Stephen  Titus  Hosmer,  of  Middletown.  John  Mix  was 
elected  Grand  Secretary  in  1791,  and  held  the  position  twenty-nine 
years.  He  was  made  a  mason  in  American  Union  Lodge  while  it  was 
stationed  at  Reading,  Feb.  24,  1779.  This  army  lodge  was  afterward 
located  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  and  is  still  in  existence  there,  being  known 
as  American  Union  Lodge  No.  1.  A  few  years  since  it  came  into  pos- 
session of  the  original  records  of  its  early  meetings  while  attached  to 
the  Revolutionary  army. 

At  the  organization  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  Frederick  Lodge  received  a 
charter  from  that  body  and  was  designated  as  No.  14.  For  many  years 
it  has  been  located  in  Plainville,  and  numbers  seventy-two  members. 

The  records  of  the  Grand  Lodge  show  that  a  lodge  was  in  existence 
in  the  town  of  Berlin  as  early  as  1791.  It  was  represented  that  year 
at  the  May  session  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  but  no  record  has  been  found 
of  its  original  charter.  It  received  a  charter  irom  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
Connecticut,  and  continued  to  work  under  the  name  of  Berlin  Lodge 
No.  20  until  1797,  when  its  name  was  changed  to  Harmony  Lodge  No. 
20,  and  in  1848  it  was  removed  to  New  Britain,  and  has  since  existed 
in  a  flourishing  condition,  numbering  now  two  hundred  and  thirty-three 
members.  From  these  three  lodges  have  sprung  twenty-two  others, 
located  in  the  surrounding  towns  in  the  county,  and  aggregating  a 
membership  of  about  four  thousand. 


FREEMASONRY.  197 

Other  masonic  bodies  have  since  been  organized,  including  Pythag- 
oras Chapter  No.  17  of  Royal  Arch  Masons,  Wolcott  Council  No.  1  of 
Cryptic  Masons,  Washington  Commandery  No.  1  Knights  Templars,  and 
within  a  few  years,  three  bodies  of  the  Ancient  Accepted  Scottish  Rite. 

Washington  Commandery  was  instituted  in  July,  1796,  at  Col- 
chester, by  three  Knights  Templars  hailing  from  three  different  com- 
manderies  (then  known  as  encampments),  at  which  time  five  candidates 
received  the  orders  of  Knighthood.  Eliphalet  Bulkeley  was  at  this 
meeting  chosen  captain  general ;  James  Baxter,  first  captain  ;  Henry 
Champion,  second  captain  ;  Asa  Bigelow,  treasurer ;  John  R.  Watrous, 
secretary ;  Ebenezer  Perkins,  marshal.  Meetings  Avere  held  in  1798, 
1799,  and  1801,  alternating  between  Colchester  and  New  London  ;  and 
in  June,  1801,  a  charter  was  received  from  London,  England,  when  the 
commandery  was  permanently  organized.  No  written  records  of  the 
first  three  meetings  are  in  existence,  and  the  only  evidence  is  a  small 
pamphlet  printed  at  New  London  in  1823,  which  records  the  names  of 
those  who  received  the  orders  of  Knighthood,  with  dates  showing  that 
five  meetings  must  have  been  held  prior  to  1802. 

In  1844  this  commandery  was  removed  to  Hartford,  and  the  first 
meeting  was  held  on  the  3d  of  August,  when  it  was  organized  by  the 
election  of  Sir  Knight  George  Giddings,  grand  commander  ;  Sir  Knight 
Elizur  Goodrich,  Jr.,  generalissimo;  Sir  Knight  James  Ward,  captain 
general ;  Sir  Knight  Elihu  Geer,  prelate ;  Sir  Knight  Nathan  C.  Geer, 
senior  warden.  It  has  since  its  removal  continued  to  flourish,  number- 
ing among  its  members  many  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  Hartford. 
Foremost  among  them  is  the  name  of  ex-Governor  Thomas  H.  Sey- 
mour, who  was  for  a  number  of  years  the  Eminent  Commander,  and 
always  held  the  chivalric  order  in  high  esteem.  In  1881  a  monument 
was  erected  to  his  memory  in  the  Cedar  Hill  cemetery,  and  the  cere- 
monies of  unveiling  were  conducted  by  the  commandery,  assisted  by 
other  bodies  of  the  Templar  order  from  all  parts  of  the  State. 

This  commandery  claims  to  be  the  oldest  of  any  now  existing  in 
this  country,  and  is  without  doubt  the  only  one  that  ever  received 
authority  from  the  Grand  Encampment  of  England,  which  at  the  time 
was  the  only  governing  body  of  the  order  in  the  world.  It  was  organ- 
ized in  June,  1791,  under  patronage  of  His  Royal  Highness,  Edward, 
Duke  of  Kent,  from  which  indirectly  has  evidently  sprung  the  order  of 
Knights  Templars  of  the  United  States,  numbering  about  sixty  thou- 
sand members.  These  early  bodies,  with  the  exception  of  Washington 
Commandery,  received  no  authority  from  the  Grand  Encampment,  and 
were  undoubtedly  organized  by  virtue  of  that  inherent  right  delegated 
by  the  esoteric  portions  of  the  ritual.  The  order  is  the  most  popular 
of  all  now  in  existence,  and  much  stronger  in  this  country  than  in  any 
other. 


198  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

Mr.  Stephen  Terry  furnishes  the  following  sketch  of  the  Odd  Fel- 
lows :  — 

The  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  was  introduced  into  this 
county  by  the  institution  of  Charter  Oak  Lodge  No.  2,  at  Hartford, 
April  21, 1810.  From  that  time  it  steadily  increased  until  about  1852, 
when  there  were  in  the  county  18  lodges  having  1,148  members  and 
funds  amounting  to  89,479.44,  and  four  encampments.  The  lodges  were 
distributed  as  follows ;  namely,  three  in  Hartford,  and  one  each  in 
Warehouse  Point,  Granby,  Manchester,  Tariffville,  Windsor  Locks, 
Thompsonville,  Bloomfield,  Bristol,  New  Britain,  East  Hartford,  Broad 
Bi-ook,  Farmington,  Collinsville,  Plainville,  and  Southington,  and  were 
established  successively  in  the  several  places  in  the  order  named. 
The  encampments  were  distributed  as  follows :  two  in  Hartford  and 
one  each  in  Warehouse  Point  and  Plainville.  From  1852  it  rapidly 
declined,  but  continued  to  exist  until  1860,  when  the  sole  remaining 
lodge  (the  one  in  Thompsonville)  made  its  last  report.  The  causes 
of  the  decline  were  various,  conspicuous  among  them  being  jealousy 
of  New  Haven,  where  the  Grand  Lodge  then  held  all  its  sessions,  cul- 
minating, in  1853  and  1854,  in  the  expulsion  of  the  two  strongest 
lodges  in  Hartford,  and  distrust  of  the  then  novel  feature  of  dues  and 
benefits. 

The  second  and  present  period  of  the  order  in  this  county  began 
with  the  institution  of  Hartford  Lodge,  No.  82,  at  Hartford,  Feb.  1, 
1867.  There  are  now  eight  lodges,  three  Daughter  of  Rebekah.  lodges, 
two  encampments,  and  one  uniformed  degree  camp.  The  lodges  are 
located  as  follows:  four  in  Hartford,  two  in  New  Britain,  and  one 
each  in  Bristol  and  Plantsville ;  the  Daughter  of  Rebekah  lodges  are 
in  Hartford,  Plantsville,  and  New  Britain ;  the  encampments  are  in 
Hartford  and  New  Britain ;  and  the  uniformed  degree  camp  is  in  Hart- 
ford. On  the  31st  of  December,  1884,  the  lodges  reported  1,009  mem- 
bers, funds  to  the  amount  of  $16,279,  and  $'3,026  expended  during  the 
year  for  the  relief  of  members. 

The  Daughter  of  Rebekah  lodges  are  composed  of  members  of 
lodges  and  the  wives,  widows,  and  unmarried  daughters  and  sisters  of 
lodge  members.  The  lodges  and  Daughter  of  Rebekah  lodges  are  all 
subordinate  to  a  Grand  Lodge  of  Connecticut,  and  the  encampments 
and  uniformed  degree  camp  are  subordinate  to  a  Grand  Encampment 
of  Connecticut ;  and  the  Grand  Lodge  and  Grand  Encampment  are 
subordinate  to  a  Sovereign  Grand  Lodge  of  the  order,  to  which  they 
each  send  representatives. 

This  county  has  furnished  to  the  Grand  Lodge  and  Grand  Encampment 
of  Connecticut  four  grand  masters  and  two  grand  patriarchs,  namely : 

James  B.  Oilman,  of  Hartford,  G.  M.  from  Julv,  1841,  to  July,  1842. 

Henry  L.  Miller,  of  Hartford,  G.  M.  from  July,  1845j;o  July,  1846. 

Freeman  M.  Brown,  of  Windsor  Locks,  G.  M.  from  February,  1853,  to  Feb.,  1854. 

Stephen  Terry,  of  Hartford,  G.  M.  from  May,  1872,  to  May,  1874. 

Calvin  L.  Hubbard,  of  Hartford,  G.  P.  from  February,  1852,  to  February,  1853. 

Oliver  Woodhouse,  of  Hartford,  G.  P.  from  October,  'l 88 2,  to  October,  1883. 

The  following  is  a  tabular  statement  of  the  names  and  numbers  of 
the  several  lodges,  etc.,  with  the  dates  of  their  institution,  dates  of 
their  ceasing  to  exist,  and  reinstitution  :  — 


ODD   FELLOWS.  —  OTHER  SECEET  SOCIETIES. 


199 


Name. 

No. 

Location. 

Instituted. 

Defunct 

Charter  Oak. 

2. 

Hartford. 

April  21,  1840. 

Expelled  1854 

Mercantile. 

8. 

Hartford. 

June  13,  1842. 

Expelled  1853. 

Farmers  and  Mechanics. 

22. 

Warehouse  Point 

.   June  12,  1845. 

1856. 

Acanthus. 

23. 

Granby. 

Aug.  20,  1845. 

About  1853. 

Oakland. 

25. 

Manchester. 

Oct.  9,  1845. 

1852. 

Tunxis. 

38. 

Tariffville. 

Jan.  21,  1847. 

1853. 

Pine  Meadow. 

39. 

Windsor  Locks. 

Feb.  1847. 

1855. 

Hyperion. 

40. 

Hartford. 

Feb.  3,  1847. 

1855. 

Thompsonville. 

45. 

Thompsonville. 

May  11,  1847. 

About  1860. 

Lafayette. 

47. 

Bloom  field. 

June  15,  1847. 

About  1852. 

Pequabock. 

48. 

Bristol. 

Aug.  3,  1847. 

About  1857. 

Phenix. 

52. 

New  Britain. 

Feb.  15,  1848. 

About  1859. 

Elm. 

53. 

East  Hartford. 

Feb.  28,  1848. 

1858. 

Protection. 

54. 

Broad  Brook. 

1848. 

1856. 

Unity. 

56. 

Farming-ton. 

Aug.  2,  1848. 

About  1853. 

Eclectic. 

64. 

Collinsville. 

Feb.  13,  1849. 

1855. 

Sequassen. 

74. 

Plainville. 

Aug.  14,  1851. 

About  1859. 

Eureka. 

75. 

Southington. 

May  16,  1851. 

About  1859. 

American. 

80. 

Hartford. 

June  12,  1855. 

About  1856. 

Hartford. 

82. 

Hartford. 

Feb.  1,  1867. 

Phenix  (reinstituted). 

52. 

New  Britain. 

Feb.  22,  1872. 

Charter  Oak  (reinstituted) 

.     2. 

Hartford. 

March  6,  1872. 

Connecticut. 

93. 

Hartford. 

April  27,  1874. 

Gerstaecker. 

96. 

New  Britain. 

June  3,  1875. 

Beethoven. 

98. 

Hartford. 

April  27,  1876. 

Eureka  (reinstituted). 

75. 

Plantsville. 

Jan.  1,  1878. 

Pequabock  (reinstituted). 

48. 

Bristol. 

Feb.  8,  1883. 

Daughter  of  Eebekah 

Lodges. 

Stella. 

11. 

New  Britain. 

Sept.  5,  1873. 

Union. 

17. 

Plantsville. 

Sept.  30,  1878. 

Miriam. 

18. 

Hartford. 

Encampments. 

Jan.  29,  1879. 

Miilian. 

7. 

Hartford. 

Dec.  24,  1844. 

Expelled  1848. 

Connecticut. 

11. 

Hartford. 

March  4,  1847. 

Nov.  3,  1853. 

Hinman. 

13. 

Warehouse  Point. 

Oct.  29,  1847. 

July,  1852. 

Montevideo.1 

15. 

Bristol. 

March  7,  1848. 

1856. 

Midian  (reinstituted). 

7. 

Hartford. 

Feb.  7,  1873. 

Comstock. 

29. 

New  Britain. 

May  26,  1876. 

Uniformed  Degree  Camps. 

Capitol  City. 

1. 

Hartford. 

Dec.  9,  1882. 

The  first  lodge  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  St.  Bernard,  No.  7,  was 
instituted  April  19,  1869.  Its  first  officers  were :  J.  K.  Wheeler,  past 
chancellor ;  L.  E.  Hunt,  chancellor  commander ;  A.  T.  Ashmead,  vice 

1  Removed  to  Plainville  in  1851. 


200  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

chancellor ;  S.  V.  Woodruff,  master  of  exchequer ;  J.  H.  Barnum,  mas- 
ter of  finance  ;  L.  A.  Dickinson,  keeper  of  records  and  seal ;  James 
Watson,  master  at  arms ;  William  Knox,  inside  guard ;  W.  H.  Higgs, 
outside  guard.  The  first  meetings  were  held  in  Stedman's  (now  Bliss's) 
Hall.  In  November,  1885,  the  name  of  the  lodge  was  changed  to  Cres- 
cent, No.  7.  The  membership  (January,  1886)  is  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four. 

Washington  Lodge,  an  offshoot  from  St.  Bernard,  was  instituted 
May  13,  1870.  Its  first  officers  were  :  Scott  J.  Priest,  p.  c.  ;  William 
E.  Cone,  c.  c.  ;  Horace  0.  Case,  v.  c. ;  H.  J.  Case,  m.  of  e. ;  H.  K. 
Barber,  m.  of  f. ;  A.  A.  Hunt,  k.  r.  s.  ;  J.  H.  Brewster,  m.  at  a. ;  E. 
C.  Clark,  i.  g.  ;  B.  N.  Jerome,  o.  g.  The  first  meetings  were  held  in 
Stedman  Hall,  but  since  1872  have  been  held  in  Pythian  Hall.  The 
present  membership  is  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight. 

Hermann  Lodge,  No.  16,  was  instituted  May  13,  1870.  Its  first 
officers  were  :  John  Poll,  M.D.,  p.  c. ;  Robert  H.  Smith,  c.  c. ;  William 
Westphal,  v.  c. ;  R.  Ballerstein,  k.  of  r.  and  s. ;  Charles  Hugendubel, 
m.  of  e. ;  J.  J.  Lehr,  m.  of  f. ;  Jacob  Lehr,  m.  of  a. ;  H.  Spiller,  i.  g. ; 
William  Maxwell,  o.  g.  The  meetings  have  always  been  held  in  Bliss's 
Hall.     The  present  membership  is  eighty-four. 

The  Knights  of  Pvthias  have  lodges  in  Bristol  (Ethan  Lodge,  No.  9), 
New  Britain  (St.  Elmo,  No.  21),  and  Collinsville  (Tioga,  No.  41).1 

Pioneer  Lodge,  No.  315,  Knights  of  Honor,  was  organized  June  28, 
1876,  with  the  following  officers:  J.  H.  Bingham, past  dictator  ;  James 
R.  Sloane,  dictator  ;  Joseph  E.  Marvel,  vice  dictator  ;  J.  A.  Steven,  as- 
sistant dictator  ;   L.  B.  Herrick,  chaplain  ;  Henry  T.  Russell,  guide ; 

A.  W.  North,  reporter  ;  B.  H.  Webb,  financial  reporter.  The  first 
meeting  was  held  in  the  office  of  Webb  Brothers,  Asylum  Street.  Since 
July  10  the  lodge  has  held  its  meetings  in  Odd  Fellows  Hall.  The 
number  of  members  has  grown  from  eight  to  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine  (January,  1886).  There  are  lodges  at  Manchester,  Thompson- 
ville,  and  New  Britain. 

Among  other  secret  organizations  are  :  Ararat  Lodge,  No.  13,  U.  O. 

B.  B.,  organized  in  1853  ;  Independent  Order  of  the  Free  Sons  of  Israel, 
Judith  Lodge,  No.  33,  organized  March  26, 1871 ;  Knights  of  St.  Patrick, 
organized  Feb.  8,  1874  ;  Germania  Lodge,  No.  338,  D.  O.  H.,  instituted 
April  4, 1874  ;  Kesher  Shel  Barzel,  Isaac  Leeser  Lodge,  No.  142,  organ- 
ized April  4,  1875  ;  Uhland  Lodge,  No.  2,  Connecticut  Order  Germania, 
organized  May  17, 1875  ;  Hartford  Lodge,  No.  19,  B.  P.  O.  E.,  organized 
Feb.  11,  1883;  Marshall  Jewell  Commandery  No.  250  (United  Order  of 
the  Golden  Cross),  organized  September,  1883  ;  Capitol  Lodge,  No.  131, 
Sons  of  St.  George,  instituted  Nov.  9, 1883 ;  Capitol  City  Council,  No. 
140,  Order  of  United  Friends,  instituted  May  19,  1884  ;  Alpha  Castle, 
No.  1,  Knights  of  the  Golden  Eagle,  instituted  July  15,  1885  ;  Trumbull 
Council,  No.  21,  N.  P.  U.,  instituted  May  7,  1885. 

1  The  titles  given  above  are  the  new  ones  adopted  in  1877. 


CHAPTEE  XL 

EMIGRATION. 

BY    THE    KEV.    INCREASE    N.    TAKBOX,    D.D. 

New  Towns  planted  from:  Harteord  County.  —  Hadley.  —  Vermont.  —  The 
Western  Reserve.  —  The  Genesee  Country. 

THE  beginnings  of  the  Connecticut  Colony  lie  so  far  back  in  the  past, 
and  the  great  dispersion  from  the  Atlantic  States  over  our  broad 
territories  has  been  so  long  going  on,  that  there  is  hardly  a  town 
of  any  considerable  size  along  our  northern  belt,  from  the  Hudson  River 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  in  which  persons  may  not  be  found  whose  ancestral 
roots  dip  back  into  Hartford  County,  Connecticut.  But  the  object  of  this 
chapter  is  more  especially  to  bring  into  view  those  movements  from  the 
county  which  have  been  in  clusters  of  families,  associated  bands,  little 
or  larger  colonies,  going  forth  to  plant  new  towns  or  new  districts  of 
country,  near  or  far  away. 

The  earliest  movement  of  this  kind  seems  to  have  been  made  by  Mr. 
Roger  Ludlow  in  1639,  when  he  led  out  a  little  company  of  eight  or  ten 
families  from  Windsor  to  plant  the  town  of  Fairfield  on  the  South  Shore. 
It  is  said  that  this  attractive  spot  was  first  brought  to  the  notice  of  the 
river  towns  in  the  pursuit  of  Sassacus  and  the  flying  Pequots,  after  the 
great  fight  in  1637.  The  town,  as  we  suppose,  took  its  name  from 
the  pleasant  impression  made  by  its  surface  and  soil  upon  the  eye  of 
the  beholder. 

The  town  of  Stamford  was  begun  in  like  manner,  in  1641,  by  a  com- 
pany which  started  out  from  Wethersfield.  The  territory  was  purchased 
for  them  by  Nathaniel  Turner,  agent  for  the  New  Haven  colony,  and 
the  purchasers  agreed  that  they  would  connect  themselves  with  the  New 
Haven  jurisdiction,  and  would  have  twenty  settlers  on  the  ground  before 
the  last  of  November,  1641.  Between  thirty  and  forty  families  were 
there  before  the  end  of  that  year  (1641). 

In  1644  another  colony  went  out  from  Wethersfield  to  plant  the  town 
of  Branford.  This  was  also  within  the  New  Haven  jurisdiction.  Mr. 
William  Swaine,  who  was  one  of  the  eight  commissioners  appointed  in 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  to  govern  the  Connecticut  plantations  for  one 
year,  purchased  this  territory  of  the  New  Haven  government.  Along 
with  this  little  company  moving  from  Wethersfield  to  Branford  was 
Mr.  John  Sherman,  one  of  the  ministers  coming  from  Watertown,  Mass., 
to  Wethersfield,  then  passing  from  Wethersfield  to  Branford,  and  a  few 
years  later  going  back  to  the  ministry  of  Watertown,  Mass.,  where  he 
remained  until  his  death,  in  1685.  He  was  an  eminent  scholar,  and 
took  some  part  in  the  instruction  of  Harvard  College. 


202  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

The  town  of  Farmington  was  incorporated  in  1645,  chiefly  by  men 
who  went  out  of  Hartford ;  but  as  Farmington  is  a  part  of  Hartford 
County,  upon  this  fact  we  shall  not  dwell. 

Hadley,  Mass.,  was  a  direct  outgrowth  from  Hartford,  aided  by 
Wethersneld.  It  started  with  a  strong  and  able  body  of  men.  They 
were  some  of  Hartford's  chief  citizens,  who  had  become  weary  with  the 
long  debate  and  strife  in  the  First  Church  under  Mr.  Stone's  ministry. 
Mr.  John  Webster,  who  had  been  Governor  of  the  Connecticut  Colony, 
and  Mr.  John  Russell,  minister  at  Wethersneld,  who  had  been  chosen  as 
the  spiritual  head  of  the  movement,  may  be  reckoned  as  the  chief  leaders. 
On  the  written  compact  into  which  they  entered,  April  18,  1659,  the 
names  of  Mr.  Webster  and  (Elder)  William  Goodwin  stand  first,  and  are 
followed  by  about  thirty  more  from  Hartford,  and  by  Mr.  Russell's  and 
about  twenty  others  from  Wethersneld.  The  territory  on  which  they 
planted  themselves  under  the  general  name  of  Hadley  includes  the 
present  towns  of  Hadley,  Amherst,  Granby,  Hatfield,  and  South  Hadley. 
In  this  settlement,  and  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Russell  especially,  the  regicide 
judges  were  concealed  when  they  could  no  longer  be  safely  kept  within 
the  New  Haven  plantations. 

In  1673  a  committee  of  five  chosen  in  the  town  of  Farmington  were 
sent  to  view  the  territory  where  Waterbury  now  stands.  They  came 
back  and  reported  favorably.  (This  place  was  the  ancient  Indian  Mat- 
tatuck.)  Thereupon  a  regular  constitution,  consisting  of  eight  articles, 
was  drawn  up  to  regulate  and  bind  the  associates,  and  it  was  signed  by 
twenty-eight  men.  The  territory  which  they  bought  of  the  Indians  in- 
cludes the  present  Waterbury,  Watertown,  Plymouth,  and  Thomaston, 
and  parts  of  Middlebury,  Wolcott,  Oxford,  Prospect,  and  Naugatuck. 
The  purchasers  of  this  land  first  broke  the  soil  in  1677,  but  it  was  not 
until  1686  that  Waterbury  was  regularly  incorporated  as  a  town. 

The  towns  along  the  eastern  boundary  of  Connecticut  were  chiefly 
settled  by  little  colonies  from  Massachusetts ;  but  the  towns  lying  mid- 
way between  the  Connecticut  River  and  the  eastern  boundary  were,  as 
a  rule,  settled  by  men  who  went  out  from  the  valley.  So  the  town  of 
Hebron  was  started  in  1704,  and  incorporated  in  1707,  by  a  company,  of 
whom  the  leading  men  and  the  greater  number  of  the  whole  were  from 
Windsor.  The  town  of  Tolland  was  purchased  of  the  Indians  by  two 
gentlemen  from  Windsor,  and  the  early  settlers  came  mainly  from  the 
Windsor  plantation.  It  was  incorporated  as  a  town  in  1715.  Hadclam 
was  settled  by  twenty-eight  young  men  from  Windsor,  Hartford,  and 
Wethersneld. *  The  planters  of  the  town  of  Coventry  (1709)  were  chiefly 
from  Northampton  and  Hartford.  Bolton,  which  began  to  be  settled  in 
1716,  received  its  early  inhabitants  from  the  three  original  river  towns, 
Windsor,  Hartford,  and  Wethersneld. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  old  Connecticut  towns  between  the  river  and 
the  New  York  line,  Ave  shall  find  that  they  were  chiefly  planted  by  the 
people  of  the  valley.  In  1718  the  territory  of  Litchfield  was  purchased 
by  a  company  of  men  from  Hartford,  Windsor,  and  Lebanon,  and  in 
1724  the  town  was  incorporated. 

On  the  division  of  the  "  Western  Lands,"  in  1726,  the  township  of 
Litchfield  and  seven  other  townships  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  territory 
which  now  constitutes  Litchfield  County  were  conceded  to  the  towns 
of   Hartford  and  Windsor;   and  by  mutual  agreement,  in  1732,  the 


EMIGRATION. 


203 


inhabitants  of  Hartford  became  sole  owners  of  Hartland,  Winchester, 
New  Hartford,  and  half  of  Harwinton,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Windsor 
had  Colebrook,  Barkhamsted,  Torrington,  and  the  west  half  of  Har- 
winton. Each  tax-payer  in  Hartford  and  Windsor  became  the  propri- 
etor of  a  share  in  one  or  another  of  the  seven  new  townships. 

The  Windsor  proprietors  of  the  town  of  Torrington,  one  hundred 
and  six  in  number,  held  their  first  business  meeting  in  Windsor,  Sept. 
10,  1733.  The  early  settlers  came  chiefly  from  Windsor  and  Durham, 
and  the  town  was  incorporated  in  1741 ;  and  in  that  same  year  their 
first  minister,  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Roberts,  was  ordained. 

Winchester  was  first  surveyed  and  laid  out  in  1758,  and  the  owners 
of  the  wild  territory  belonged  in  Hartford,  whence  many  of  the  early 
settlers  came.  It  was  incorporated  in  1771.  New  Hartford  was  settled 
about  1733,  and,  as  its  name  would  signify,  its  early  inhabitants  were 
from  Hartford. 

The  first  settlement  of  Norfolk,  which  began  in  1744,  was  by  men 
from  Windsor  and  Hartford. 


We  have  thus  far  been  occupied  with  early  and  short  emigrations, 
chiefly  within  the  boundaries  of  the  State.  It  was  not  until  near  the 
close  of  the  last  century  and  the  early  years  of  the  present,  that  the 
great  tide  of  emigration  set  in,  which  carried  immense  numbers  of 
the  men  and  women  of  Connecticut  to  distant  fields  and  new  associa- 
tions. In  this  larger  movement  it  would  be  impossible  to  keep  Hart- 
ford County  distinct  from  the  rest  of  the  State.  In  the  formation  of 
colonies  for  the  settlement  of  Vermont,  though  the  western  and  middle 
portions  of  Connecticut  were  perhaps  more  busy  than  the  eastern  parts, 
yet  the  following  names  of  towns  in  Vermont,  given  (certainly  for  the 
most  part)  from  Connecticut,  will,  of  themselves,  tell  the  story,  as  in  a 
glass,  of  her  activity  in  planting  and  peopling  Vermont :  — 


Bethel, 

East  Haven, 

Mansfield, 

Vernon, 

Bolton, 

Fairfield, 

Middletown, 

Wallingford, 

Bristol, 

Fair  Haven, 

New  Haven, 

Warren, 

Brooktield, 

Franklin, 

Norwich, 

Washington. 

Burlington, 

Glastenbury, 

Plainfield, 

Waterbury. 

Canaan, 

Granby, 

Pomfret, 

Weston, 

Colchester, 

Guilford, 

Salem, 

Wethersfield, 

Cornwall, 

Hartford, 

Sharon, 

Windham, 

Coventry, 

Hartland, 

Salisbury, 

Windsor, 

Derby, 

Huntington, 

Stamford, 

Woodstock. 

These  are  not  all  of  the  Vermont  towns  which  repeat  the  Connecticut 
names,  but  they  are  enough  to  show  that  Connecticut  had  a  large 
agency  in  her  beginnings. 

It  is  positively  stated  of  some  of  the  above-named  towns,  that  their 
first  town-meetings  were  held  in  Connecticut,  as  the  first  town-meeting 
of  Torrington  was  held  in  Windsor.  The  proprietors  were  here,  and 
were  organized  and  prepared  to  move,  but  they  must  transact  their  first 
business  where  they  then  happened  to  be.  In  all  this  early  settlement 
of  Vermont  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Hartford  County  contributed,  by 
reason  of  her  greater  age,  wealth,  and  population,  more  than  any  other 
county  in  the  State.      Covering  the  same  early  period,  but  extending 


204  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

down  further  into  the  present  century,  Connecticut  was  an  immense 
contributor  for  the  settlement  of  the  eastern,  middle,  and  western  por- 
tions of  New  York.  It  is  related  of  a  quiet  old  Dutchman,  who  sat 
by  his  door  in  the  vicinity  of  Albany,  smoked  his  pipe  and  saw  the  emi- 
grant wagons  go  by,  day  after  day  and  month  after  month,  that  he  ac- 
costed one  of  the  drivers,  inquiring  who  was  governor  in  the  country 
where  he  came  from.  When  told  the  name  of  the  Connecticut  governor 
for  that  year,  he  finished  the  conversation  with  the  philosophical  remark 
that  he  must  be  a  great  fool  to  stay  there  when  all  his  people  were  going 
away  and  leaving  him. 

Dr.  Bushnell,  many  years  ago,  stated  that  the  Convention  of  New 
York,  meeting  in  1821,  which  formed  the  present  State  Constitution, 
was  composed  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  members,  and  that  a 
majority  of  those  members,  chosen  freely  and  naturally  out  of  all  the 
tribes,  were  either  native-born  sons  of  Connecticut,  or  were  sons  of 
Connecticut-born  fathers.  Any  fact  like  this  serves  to  show  how  Con- 
necticut has  been  for  a  century  a  hive  overstocked  and  swarming  for 
emigration.  So  late  as  fifty  years  ago  the  little  State  had  no  city  of 
more  than  ten  or  twelve  thousand  inhabitants.  The  great  body  of  her 
people  were  in  the  country  towns,  with  their  fortunes  linked  to  the 
soil,  and  they  were  ready  to  give  inquiring  entertainment  to  every  call 
inviting  them  forth  "  to  fresh  fields  and  pastures  new." 

But  perhaps  the  most  notable  enterprise  of  Connecticut  coloniza- 
tion in  which  Hartford  County  had  a  prominent  part  was  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Western  Reserve,  Ohio,  long  known  as  the  Connecticut 
Reserve,  or,  what  was  a  still  more  familiar  name,  New  Connecticut. 
This  tract  of  territory  embraced  the  eight  northeastern  counties  of  Ohio, 
as  the  boundaries  then  stood.  But  three  of  those  counties  have  since 
been  divided,  so  that  now  there  are  eleven  included  in  the  original  tract. 
There  is  an  impression  on  some  minds  that  this  Western  Reserve  was 
given  to  Connecticut  as  a  compensation  for  her  extra  services  and  ex- 
penses in  the  Revolutionary  struggle.  Connecticut  did  perform  extra 
service  and  bear  more  than  her  average  proportion  of  expense  during 
that  long  war,  but  the  Ohio  lands  were  given  for  a  very  different  reason. 

When  the  charters  were  made  out  in  England,  during  the  seven- 
teenth century,  to  the  various  colonics,  for  the  settlement  of  this  coun- 
try, they  were  given  with  no  clear  conception  how  much  territory  the 
boundaries  would  include,  or  where  the  lines  wrould  run.  The  charter 
of  Connecticut,  like  others,  covered  all  territory  westward  "  to  the  South 
Sea."  But  the  South  Sea  was  an  unknown  quantity.  The  charters 
therefore  interfered  one  with  another,  and,  after  we  became  a  nation, 
the  whole  interest  had  to  be  settled  by  the  general  government  in  a 
kind  of  compromise.  Connecticut  received,  just  at  the  close  of  the  last 
century,  as  her  reward  for  not  holding  to  the  letter  of  her  charter,  the 
eight  northeastern  counties  of  Ohio. 

When  this  gift  came  to  the  State  a  company  was  formed,  embracing 
a  large  number  of  its  wealthy  men,  who  bought  this  whole  territory, 
paying  for  it  what  was  then  deemed  a  reasonable  price.  The  State  had 
decided  that  all  the  moneys  arising  from  the  sale  of  those  lands  should 
be  placed  in  a  school  fund  for  the  education  of  the  children  through 
all  the  years  to  come.  Those  moneys,  with  subsequent  additions,  now 
amount  to  more  than  $2,000,000. 


EMIGRATION.  205 

Dr.  Henry  Barnard,  in  1853,  prepared  a  very  able  chapter,  of  110 
pages,  which  makes  a  portion  of  the  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  the 
School  Fund  to  the  State  Legislature  of  Connecticut  for  that  year.  His 
chapter  is  entitled  "  History  of  the  School  Fund,"  and  the  whole  sub- 
ject is  carefully  traced  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  The  following 
is  the  offer  which  the  State  concluded  to  accept,  and  so  this  whole 
territory  was  passed  over  to  this  company  of  men. 

Hartford,  12th  of  August,  1795. 
We  the  Subscribers,  for  ourselves  and  our  associates,  will  give  for  the  West- 
ern Reserve,  so  called,  the  sum  of  twelve  hundred  thousand  dollars,  payable  in 
five  years,  with  interest  annually,  after  the  expiration  of  two  years  from  the 
signing  the  deed,  and  give  security  agreeably  to  the  act  of  the  Legislature. 
Oliver  Phelps.  Samuel  Mather,  Jr.     Moses  Cleaveland. 

William  Hart.  Elisha  Hyde.  Gideon  Granger,  Jr. 

Ebenezer  Huntington.         Matthew  Nicoll. 

These  eight  men  represented  an  associated  company,  known,  in 
common  speech,  as  the  Connecticut  Land  Company,  consisting  of 
forty-eight  wealthy  and  prominent  men,  in  different  parts  of  the 
State,  who  paid  in  their  several  sums  of  money,  larger  or  smaller,  and 
so  became  the  owners  of  the  territory.  The  largest  subscriber,  and  the 
chief  manager  of  this  great  interest,  was  Oliver  Phelps,  the  first  signer 
of  the  above  offer,  a  native  of  Windsor,  but  resident  in  Suffield.  He 
took  of  this  stock,  in  his  own  name,  $168,185,  and  he  and  Gideon 
Granger,  Jr.,  of  Suffield,  in  company,  took  $60,000  more.  The  smallest 
sum  paid  in  by  any  one  subscriber  was  less  than  $2,000.  Several  of 
these  men  gave  names  to  towns  on  the  Reserve,  as  Cleveland  from 
Moses  Cleaveland,  etc. 

As  soon  as  this  syndicate  came  into  the  possession  of  this  vast  ter- 
ritory, offices  were  at  once  opened  for  the  sale  of  these  lands  to  emi- 
grants. For  years  this  work  went  on,  and  for  years  the  long  procession 
of  emigrant  wagons  were  making  their  weary  journey  from  Connecticut 
to  Ohio.  These  moving  crowds  were  followed  by  the  Connecticut  Mis- 
sionary Society,  with  religious  teachers  and  preachers,  who  might  form 
churches  and  schools,  and  fix  the  population  on  the  old-fashioned  New 
England  foundations.  Of  course  the  emigration  to  the  Reserve  was  not 
wholly  from  Connecticut.  The  emigrants  came  from  many  quarters ; 
but  the  dominant  stream  flowed  from  this  State,  and  the  older  generation 
used  to  like  the  name  New  Connecticut  better  than  any  other.  The 
years  have  passed  on.  This  Connecticut  Reserve,  then  so  far  off,  is  now 
only  a  gateway  opening  into  the  "  Great  West."  It  is  much  nearer  to 
New  England  than  it  is  to  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Colorado,  and  is  only  the 
beginning^  of  the  journey  from  New  England  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 

But  with  all  this  far-spreading  territory,  and  with  new  forms  and 
movements  of  emigration,  the  story  how  Connecticut,  in  the  early  years 
of  the  present  century,  transplanted  so  many  of  her  children  to  the  far- 
off  fields  of  Ohio,  will  continue  to  be  read  through  years  to  come  with 
living  interest. 

An  earlier  enterprise  in  its  beginnings,  though  not  perhaps  in  its 
full  development,  and  of  almost  equal  magnitude,  in  which  Mr.  Oliver 
Phelps  was  the  prime  mover  and  chief  actor,  was  the  settlement  of  the 
Genesee  Country  in  the  State  of  New  York.     Just  as  Connecticut  had 


206  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

received  the  Connecticut  Reserve  in  Ohio  as  compensation  for  giving 
up  some  of  the  items  and  provisions  of  her  charter,  so  Massachusetts, 
for  the  same  reason,  had  received  a  large  tract  of  country  in  Western 
New  York.  Mr.  Phelps,  associating  himself  with  Nathaniel  Gorham, 
Esq.,  of  Charlestown,  Mass.,  made  a  purchase  of  a  tract  of  country,  now 
embracing  the  whole  of  Monroe,  Ontario,  Livingston,  Yates,  and  Steuben 
Counties,  the  larger  part  of  Wayne  and  Alleghany,  and  smaller  portions 
of  Orleans,  Genesee,  and  Wyoming  Counties,  the  whole  passing  then 
under  the  general  name  of  the  Genesee  Country.  Mr.  Phelps,  as  we 
have  already  said,  was  a  native  of  Windsor,  son  of  Charles  Phelps,  born 
Aug.  11,  1758.  He  remained  in  Windsor  until  early  manhood,  when 
he  settled  in  Suffield.  But  after  he  became  interested  in  these  great 
laud  enterprises,  he  had  a  New  York  home  at  Canandaigua,  and  went 
back  and  forth  between  these  homes  as  occasions  called.  His  chief 
partner,  Mr.  Nathaniel  Gorham,  kept  his  residence  at  Charlestown,  and 
never  visited  the  lands  which  he  had  helped  to  buy.  His  son,  however, 
Nathaniel  Gorham,  Jr.,  removed  to  Canandaigua,  and  became  an  active 
worker  in  the  enterprise.  The  territory  they  had  bought  was  computed 
to  contain  2,200,000  acres,  which  they  had  purchased  partly  from  Mas- 
sachusetts and  partly  from  the  Indian  tribes.  The  amount  of  land  was 
less,  by  more  than  a  million  of  acres,  than  the  Ohio  purchase,  which 
was  reckoned  at  8,300,000  acres. 

When  Messrs.  Phelps  and  Gorham  had  completed  their  purchase, 
they  opened  their  offices  for  the  sale  of  those  lands,  and  were  glad 
of  responsible  customers,  from  whatever  part  of  the  land  or  the  world 
they  might  come.  It  is  stated  that  their  first  sale  was  made  to  a  com- 
pany of  twelve  men  in  Berkshire  County,  Mass.  Of  course,  in  the 
whole  settlement  of  these  lands,  Connecticut  had  but  a  very  small  part, 
and  Hartford  County  only  a  small  part  of  that.  But  it  is  nevertheless 
true  that,  considering  the  size  and  population  of  the  State,  Connecticut 
bore  the  larger  part  both  in  the  number  and  quality  of  her  emigrants. 

Phineas  Bates,  from  Durham,  was  one  of  the  earliest  to  report  him- 
self in  the  country  in  1789.  In  1790  he  returned,  and  removed  his 
family,  attended  by  other  settlers.  Dr.  William  A.  Williams,  a  native 
of  Wallingford,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale,  was  at  Canandaigua  in  1793. 

There  are  many  yet  living  who  will  remember  the  stir  among  the 
families  of  Connecticut  in  all  the  early  years  of  the  present  century, 
preparing  to  leave  for  this  wild  territory,  or  parting  with  friends  who 
were  setting  off  upon  the  weary  journey.  This  stream  of  emigration 
into  New  York,  as  well  as  into  Ohio,  continued  in  force  from  the  closing 
years  of  the  last  century  down  to  the  years  1825  or  1830,  and  in  less 
degrees,  still  later ;  and  the  men  and  women  over  all  our  spreading, 
busy  Western  fields,  who  look  to  Connecticut  as  the  little  State  where 
their  fathers  and  mothers  were  born,  or  (if  they  are  young)  their 
grandfathers  and  grandmothers,  would  number  up  a  mighty  host,  and 
embrace  a  large  measure  of  the  intelligence  and  enterprise  of  that  new 
and  rapidly  growing  world. 


&Ui 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  COUNTY. 

BY    CHARLES    HOPKINS    CLARK. 

The   Progress   of  Population.  —  Development  of   Trade,   Manufactures,    and 
Agriculture.  —  Public  Improvements  and  Wealth. 

THE  earliest  census  records  are  those  of  1756,  1774,  and  1782.  At 
the  last  of  those  dates  Hartford  County  comprised  twenty-one 
towns ;  but  eleven  of  these,  with  23,819  population,  were  set  off  in 
1785,  when  Middlesex  and  Tolland  counties  were  established.  Hence 
comparisons  previous  to  1790,  when  the  decennial  census  began,  are 
scarcely  significant,  since  the  size  of  the  county  was  so  radically  altered 
between  1782  and  1790.  In  1756  the  most  populous  town  in  the 
county  was  Middletown.  Windsor  was  second,  Farmington  third,  and 
Hartford  fourth.  In  1774,  and  also  in  1782,  Farmington  was  first  and 
Hartford  second.  Middletown  became  third,  and  then  fourth,  and  Sims- 
bury  took  the  fourth  place,  and  then  the  third.  Since  1790  Hartford  has 
stood  first.  The  fourteen  towns  of  1790  have  now  become  twenty-eight  by 
subdivision  of  territory,  and  twenty-nine  by  the  annexation  of  Hartlancl. 
The  average  population  of  the  towns  in  1790  was  2,724;  in  1880  it  was 
4,323.  This,  however,  includes  those  whose  growth  has  been  excep- 
tionally large.  Leave  out  from  the  calculation  the  largest  three  towns 
of  1790  and  also  of  1880,  and  the  average  population  in  1790  is  found 
to  be  2,656  against  2,388  in  1880.  In  1790  the  largest  three  towns  had 
10,912  out  of  38,129  of  population  in  the  county,  —  somewhat  more 
than  one  quarter.  In  1880  the  largest  three  towns  had  63,285  out  of 
125,382,  or  more  than  one  half.  Six  towns  in  1880  were  each  larger 
in  population  than  the  largest  in  1790.  Hartford  alone,  in  1880,  was 
larger  than  Hartford  County  in  1790  or  1800,  while  the  population  in 
1880  of  Hartford  and  the  towns  created  from  Hartford  almost  equalled 
the  whole  population  of  the  county  up  to  1840.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that, 
leaving  out  Hartford  and  New  Britain  in  1880,  and  Hartford  in  1790 
(there  was  no  New  Britain  then),  the  average  population  of  the  towns 
of  Hartford  County  is  practically  the  same  at  those  dates.  This  may 
perhaps  be  taken  to  indicate  a  tendency  among  people  to  organize  a 
town  when  population  reaches  a  certain  point  in  size.  The  changes  of 
population  are  in  large  part  due  to  the  gathering  of  people  about  manu- 
facturing centres,  and  are  attributable  to  the  use  of  the  steam-engine, 
the  introduction  of  railroads,  and  the  invention  of  other  machinery. 
Yet  some  marked  changes  of  relative  position  among  the  towns  —  as  for 
instance  the  decline  of  Farmington  from  first  to  twelfth  —  are  to  be 
explained  partly  by  the  cutting  off  of  territory  for  the  creation  of  new 
towns.  The  following  carefully  verified  table  will  show  the  population 
of  each  town  in  the  county  at  each  census,  and  its  relative  position  in 
point  of  numbers  :  — 


208 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF 

The  small  figures  indicate  the  relative  size  o 


HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

each  town  according  to  population. 


No.  of  towns  in  1 
the  county..  J 

18 

20 

21 

14 

15 

18 

is 

20 

21 

24 

27 

2S 

29 

1756. 

1774. 

1782. 

1790. 

1800. 

1810. 

1S20. 

1S30. 

1S40. 

1850. 

1860. 

1S70. 

1S80. 

Towns. 

x 

t 

Hartford 

3,027 

5,031 

5,495 

4,090 

5,347 

6,003 

6,901 

9,7S9 

12,793 

17,966 

29,152 

37,743 

42,551 

Avon 

1,025 

1,001 

22 
995 

1,Q059 

24 
987 

25 
1,057 

Berlin 

2,465 

2,702 

6 

2,798 

2,877 

3,037 

3,411 

1,869 

16 
2,146 

2I,5436 

2,385 

BloomfieM 

986 

'9 

1,412 

1,401 

12,473 

21 
1,346 

Bristol 

2,462 

2,723 

IS 

1,428 

1,362 

14 
1,707 

2*109 

2,884 

3,436 

6 

3,788 

6 

5,347 

Burlington 

1,467 

1,360 

1,301 

17 
1,201 

1,2161 

24 
1,031 

23 
1,319 

L224 

Canton 

16 
1,374 

16 
1,322 

16 
1,437 

1/736 

16 
1,986 

14 
2,373 

#39 

2,301 

East  Granby... 

■26 

833 

26 
853 

2'754 

East  Hartford. 

3,016 

3,057 

3,240 

3,373 

2,237 

2,389 

14 
2,497 

10 
2,951 

3,9007 

3,500 

East  Windsor.. 

2,999 

3,237 

2,600 

2,766 

3,081 

3,400 

3,536 

3,600 

2,633 

2,580 

2^882 

3,019 

Enfield 

13 

1,050 

3,707 

1,360 

6,069 

16 
1,562 

5,542 

14 
1,800 

2,696 

14 
1,761 

2,809 

1,8,46 

8 

2,748 

2,065 

2,129 
1,901 

2,648 

4,460 

10 
2,630 

4,997 
3,144 

fi> 

3 
6  755 

Farmington.... 

3,042 

2,041 

2T,610 

3/117 

Glastonbury  ... 

l'll5 

2,071 

2,346 

2,732 

10 
2,718 

2,766 

3,114 

2,980 

3,077 

3,390 

3,363 

3,7560 

3?580 

Granby 

2,595 

2,735 

2,696 

3,012 

2,733 

8 

2,611 

2,198 

18 
1,720 

20 
1,517 

1,340 

Hartland 

1,318 

1,284 

1,254 

18 
1,221 

1,060 

23 
848 

25 
846 

2789 

28 
643 

Manchester 

1,576 

16 
1,695 

11 

2,546 

3,294 

4,S223 

6,4462 

Marlborough . . . 

18 
720 

18 
839 

20 
704 

713 

2832 

682 

28 
476 

29 
391 

New  Britain  ... 



3,029 

5,212 

9,480 

13,979 

Newington 

26 
934 

Plain  ville 

122433 

1,930 

Rocky  Hill 

1,2042 

1,2102 

25 
971 

ClOS 

Simsbury 

2,24.3 

3,700 

4,664 

2,576 

2,956 

1,966 

1,954 

2,221 

1*895 

2,737 

2*410 

2r,7051 

19 
1,830 

Southington. ... 

1,'886 

2,110 

1,804 

13 
1,807 

1,Z875 

13 
1,844 

1,J887 

2,L35 

3,315 

4,314 

5,5411 

South  Windsor 

18 
1,638 

1,789 

18 
1,688 

1,902 

Suffield 

1  438 

2  017 

2  686 

2,680 

9  681 

8 

6 

0  069 

6 

3,260 
1,296 

8 

3  977 

3,9225 

20 
1,828 

West  Hartford 

19 
1,533 

Wethersfield . . . 

2,483 

3,489 

3,733 

3,806 

3,992 

3,961 

3,825 

3,853 

3,824 

2,523 

2,705 

2,693 

16 
2,173 

4,220 

2,125 

2,382 

2,714 

6 

2,773 

2,168 

3,008 

3,220 

2,283 

3,294 

2,278 

2,783 

37058 

Windsor  Looks 

10 
1,587 

16 
2.151 

2I4332 

Total  of  towns") 
now  in  count;  ( 

10.2s;. 

28,861 

33,148 

38,129 

42,147 

44,733 

47,264 

51,141 

55.629 

69.967 

.v.».:m;2 

109,007 

125,382 

All  Connecticut- ...  [30,612 

198,010  218,850 

238, 1 1 5 

250,902 

261,042 

275,248 

297.711 

310,015  370,792 

460,147 

537>454 

622,700 

THE   GROWTH   OF   THE   COUNTY 


209 


No.  of  towns  in  the  ) 
county J 

IS 
1756. 

20 
1774. 

1782. 

Towns. 

766 

6 

2,312 

8 

1,978 
1,241 

9 

l,85o 
5,664 

16 

900 

14 

1,000 
917 

iS 

650 

1,001 
2,397 

6 

3,258 

8 

2,808 

14 
1,726 

2,337 

4,87S 

1,027 

1,334 

17 
1,262 

1,001 

1,081 

8 

2,873 
3,365 
2,  /  2o 
1,950 
2,205 
4,612 
1,058 

1,534 

18 
1,361 

1,055 

Chatham 

Colchester 

East  Haddam 

Stafford 

Tolland 

Total  of  towns  not  1 
now  in  county....  1 

Total  of  towns  now  ) 
in   county. I 

17,283 
19,285 

23,029 

28,861 

23,819 
33,148 

Total   population 

36,568 

51,890 

56,967 

All  Connecticut 

130,612 

198,010 

2iS,35o 

From  1790  to  1840  the  population 
of  the  comity  increased  exactly  17,500, 
or  350  a  year ;  practically  one  a  day. 
After  that  date  a  great  change  set  in. 
Between  1840  and  1850  the  increase 
was  over  14,300,  and  in  the  next  dec- 
ade over  20,000.  The  whole  State 
experienced  a  similar  growth.  Its  in- 
crease between  1830  and  1840 2  was 
4.1  per  cent ;  while  in  the  next  decade 
it  was  19.6.  But  Hartford  County  grew 
faster  than  the  whole  State,  as  will  ap- 
pear by  a  comparison  of  the  percent- 
ages for  the  decades  closing  with  each 
date  given :  — 


Decade  ending 1S40    1850     1S60    1870      1SS0 

State,  per  cent  of  increase     4.1     19.6    24      16.8    15.8 

28.5  21        15 


Hartford  County, 

per  cent  of  increase    8. 8    25 


Since  1790  Hartford  County  has  in- 
creased 228  per  cent,  and  the  whole 
State  about  162  per  cent.  In  compari- 
son with  the  other  counties,  Hartford, 
for  a  period  of  fifty  years  from  1800, 
stood  first  in  the  State  in  respect  of 
population  ;  but  various  causes,  espe- 
cially the  great  development  of  manu- 
factures, have  set  New  Haven  before  it  in  the  last  three  censuses.  The 
following  is  a  table  showing  the  position  of  each  county  since  1790, 
Windham,  Middlesex,  and  Tolland  holding  throughout  the  6th,  7th,  and 
8th  places,  respectively  :  — 


1790. 

1800. 

1810. 

1820. 

1S30. 

1840. 

1850. 

I860.         1S70. 

1SS0. 

Hartford 

New  Haven.. 

Fairfield 

Litchfield 

New  London 
Windham .... 
Middlesex.... 
Tolland 

•2 
5 

i 

4 

6 

7 

1 

5 

2 
4 
6 

8 

1 
4 
3 
•2 
5 
6 
7 
S 

1 

4 
2 
3 
5 
6 
7 
8 

1 

3 

2 
4 
5 

6 

7 
8 

1 

3 
2 

5 
4 
6 

7 
8 

1 

3 

4 

6 

7 
S 

2 
1 
3 
5 
4 
6 
7 
8 

2 
1 
3 
5 
4 
6 
7 
8 

1 
3 

4 
6 

7 
8 

To  review  in  detail  the  development  of  the  material  interests  of  the 
county  would  involve  a  considerable  repetition  from  the  town  histories, 
but  the  outlines  may  be  briefly  sketched.  The  first  articles  exported 
from  the  colony  were  probably  the  skins  of  fur-bearing  animals  obtained 
by  trading  with  the  Indians ;  but  as  early  as  1643  tar  and  turpentine 
were  produced  in  sufficient  quantity  to  be  exported  from  Simsbury  and 

1  To  illustrate  the  slow  growth  of  those  days,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  in  1840  only 
twenty-two  "brick  and  stone  houses"  were  built  in  Hartford  County,  — nineteen  in  Hartford, 
and  one  each  in  East  Windsor,  Wethersfield,  and  Windsor.  In  the  same  year  only  seventy- 
seven  wooden  houses  were  built  in  the  county. 

VOL.   I.  — 14. 


210  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY 

Windsor.  Twenty  years  later  Michael  Griffin  received  a  special  grant 
of  land  in  consideration  of  having  so  developed  the  art  of  making  these 
articles.  Mills  for  sawing  logs  and  grinding  grain  were  set  np  beside 
convenient  streams  in  every  settlement,  and  the  water-power  was  early 
called  into  service.  There  are  some  mill-privileges  in  active  use  now 
that  have  been  constantly  employed  for  more  than  two  hundred  years. 
Agriculture  soon  developed  into  something  more  than  mere  growth  for 
home  consumption,  and  hops,  grain,  onions,  and  tobacco  were  among 
the  exports  of  the  early  days  of  the  eighteenth  century.  There  is  a 
record  of  the  exporting  of  tobacco  from  Simsbury  in  1750  ;  and  during 
the  height  of  the  trade  between  Connecticut  and  the  West  Indies  live- 
stock and  other  products  were  shipped  away  in  large  quantities. 

Pipe-staves,  heads,  and  hoops  (for  exportation  to  the  West  Indies,  to 
make  hogsheads  for  sugar,  rum,  and  molasses)  were  among  the  earliest 
articles  sent  away  from  this  county.  In  1641  the  General  Court  "  graunts 
Sam.  Smith,  and  the  rest  of  the  owners  of  the  shipp  at  Wethersfield, 
libberty  to  get  and  make  so  many  pipestaues  as  will  freight  out  the  said 
shipp  the  first  voyage."  Masts  were  exported  for  ships,  to  be  built  in 
England.  Flax,  flaxseed,  and  hemp  were  generally  produced  ;  and  flax- 
seed and  linseed  oil  were  largely  exported.  Beef,  pork,  and  swine  were 
sent  to  the  West  Indies.  Bricks  were  sent  thither  and  to  South  America 
in  the  last  half  of  the  last  century.  Timber  and  lumber  were  so  gener- 
ally exported  that  as  early  as  1687  the  General  Assembly  prohibited 
the  transportation  of  these  articles  from  the  colony  without  the  license 
of  the  town  whence  they  were  taken. 

As  early  as  1710  there  were  iron-works  near  the  line  of  Suffield  and 
Windsor,  making  iron  from  bog-ore ;  and  about  that  period  the  copper- 
mining  excitement  in  Simsbury  was  at  its  height.  In  1728,  in  that 
town,  Samuel  Higley  set  up,  under  protection  of  the  Government,  the 
manufacture  of  steel  by  the  "  transmutation "  of  iron.  In  1722  a 
slitting-mill  was  set  up  by  Ebenezer  Fitch  on  Stony  Brook,  in  Sufneld  ; 
and  in  1747,  at  East  Hartford,  Colonel  Joseph  Pitkin  carried  on  a  mill 
for  iron-slitting  under  an  exclusive  permission  granted  to  him.  It  was 
about  this  time  that  the  manufacture  of  tin-ware  was  begun  in  Berlin, 
and  the  foundations  of  the  trade  of  the  tin-pedler  were  laid.  The  inven- 
tion of  cheap  and  simple  clocks  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen- 
tury furnished  added  inducement  to  the  pedler,  and  with  tin  goods  and 
clocks  an  enormous  business  was  built  up  by  people  who  travelled  all 
over  the  country,  and,  sharpening  their  Yankee  wits  by  wide  experience 
in  "bargaining,  came  home  to  make  large  fortunes  in  business.  The 
inventive  skill  and  the  mechanical  gifts  of  the  people  led  them  into 
the  manufacture ;  and  the  search  for  a  market  for  the  goods  thus  pro- 
duced had  a  much  greater  share  in  developing  the  Connecticut  business 
sagacity  than  has  been  accredited  to  it. 

Gunpowder  was  made  in  East  Hartford  before  the  Revolution,  and 
of  course  also  during  and  after  that  war.  It  was  made,  too,  in  Canton 
and  in  Enfield  ;  and  its  manufacture  is  still  extensively  carried  on  in 
the  last-named  town,  at  Hazardville.  The  manufacture  of  glass,  at- 
tempted very  early  in  some  of  the  other  colonies,  was  undertaken  in 
Manchester  in  1783  by  persons  who  were  granted  the  sole  privilege  of 
making  it  in  the  State ;  their  work  is  marked  only  by  the  picturesque 
ruins  of  the  factory.     Paper-making  was  undertaken  in  East  Hartford 


THE   GROWTH   OF   THE   COUNTY. 


211 


Distilleries  in  Hartford  County. 


in  1775.  This  was  the  second  paper-mill  in  Connecticut.  The  indus- 
try has  become  a  very  important  one  in  the  county,  and  there  are  now 
large  mills  in  East  Hartford,  Manchester,  Unionville,  Windsor  Locks, 
and  other  places.  The  first  cotton-mill  in  this  county  was  set  up  in 
East  Hartford,  now  Manchester,  in  1796.  The  manufacture  of  snuff, 
under  a  fourteen  years'  monopoly  which  covered  the  whole  State,  was 
undertaken  in  East  Hartford  after  the  Revolution.  The  first  manufac- 
ture of  modern  axes  —  that  is,  axes  ground  and  polished  and  ready  for 
use  when  sold  —  was  in  Hartford  County,  at  Collinsville,  in  Canton,  in 
1826.  In  1828  carpet-making  began  at  Thompsonville,  in  Enfield,  and 
large  industries  have  grown  out  of  these  beginnings.  In  1836  the 
manufacture  of  safety-fuses  began  in  Simsbury,  and  was  the  first  in  the 
country. 

Apples  were  once  among  the  leading  products  of  the  soil  of  Hartford 
County,  and  at  the  time  of  their  greatest  abundance  cider-brandy 
distilleries  were  astonishingly  plenty.  It  is  worth  a  small  table  to 
see  their  increase  in  a  single  year,  and  abundance  at  a  certain  period. 

Between  1819  and  1828  the  number 
of  distilleries,  starting  at  over  a  hun- 
dred, was  doubled,  and  in  the  single 
year  between  1819  and  1820  the  in- 
crease was  81.  In  1828  only  four 
towns  in  the  county  were  without  at 
least  one,  while  Granby  actually 
reached  52.  In  1810  there  were  168 
distilleries  in  the  State,  of  which  114 
were  in  Hartford  County,  and  as  late 
as  1815  the  county  produced  75,000 
gallons  of  cider  brandy,  and  nearly 
300,000  gallons  of  gin.  In  the  last 
census  only  four  distilleries  were  re- 
ported in  the  county. 

The  first  bridge  across  the  Connect- 
icut River  was  built  at  Enfield  in  1808, 
Hartford  following  in  1809.  Next  after 
the  bridges,  in  the  way  of  public  im- 
provements, came  the  canals.  The 
canal  around  the  Enfield  Falls  was  built  in  1828,  and  in  that  year  the 
Farmington  Canal  was  opened,  which  until  1816  offered  a  line  to  tide- 
water line  from  the  Connecticut  River  at  Northampton,  Mass. 

Railroads  followed  the  canals.  The  first  railroad  in  the  county  was 
from  New  Haven  to  Hartford,  opened  in  1839.  After  that  it  was 
extended  to  Springfield. 

The  evidences  of  wealth  in  the  early  records  are  practically  confined 
to  the  lands,  houses,  live-stock,  and  silver  plate  of  the  people,  with  pos- 
sibly some  such  minor  suggestions  as  the  possession  of  watches  and 
similar  articles  might  afford.  The  tax-list  was  at  its  first  entry,  1796,1 
and  for  a  long  time  after,  made  up  on  a  different  plan  from  those  of 

1  See  records  in  the  office  of  the  Comptroller  of  the  State. 


1819. 

1S20. 

1S2S. 

2 
11 
0 
0 

20 
1 
8 
5 
18 
2 
0 
9 

0 
12 
13 

0 
1 
4 

4 
12 
3 
0 
25 
1 
9 
5 
22 

q 

41 

0 
16 
14 
0 
2 
21 

0 
10 

8 
8 

33 
0 

13 
5 

21 
5 

52 

10 
0 
0 

17 

11 
0 
1 

17 

Bristol 

Burlington 

East  Hartford... 
East  Windsor. . . . 
Enfield  

Farmington 

Glastonbury 

Manchester 

Marlborough .... 

Southington 

Suffield 

Wethersfield 

In  the  County 

106 

187 

213 

In  the  State 

232 

384 

409 

212 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


modern  days.  Real  estate  was  assessed  at  three  per  cent  of  its  value, 
and  was  so  entered,  and  then  the  tax  was  levied  upon  that.  A  tax  of 
ten  per  cent  would  therefore  have  been  only  a  tax  of  three  tenths  of 
one  per  cent.  Personal  property,  for  purposes  of  taxation,  was  entered 
at  six  per  cent  of  its  value.  Thus  the  total  apparent  tax-roll  for  Hart- 
ford County,  in  1796,  was  only  -$964,407.  But  if  the  average  assess- 
ment was  four  per  cent,  this  would  represent  over  $24,000,000  of 
property,  which  is,  in  round  numbers,  half  the  taxable  wealth  of  Hart- 
ford city  alone  to-day.  So  the  State,  in  1796,  shows  only  $5,882,827 
of  taxables,  or,  on  the  same  estimate,  $147,000,000  of  wealth.  Hart- 
ford County  stood  second  in  the  State  in  wealth  in  1796.  Litchfield 
stood  first,*  Fairfield  third,  New  Haven  fourth.  There  was  a  steady 
decline  in  the  list  of  the  State  up  to  about  1830.  At  that  date  the 
total  taxables  were  $3,734,009,  a  falling  off  of  about  $2,150,000,  which 
at  four  per  cent  represents  $53,750,000.  If  the  amount  of  silver  plate 
is  illustrative  of  the  wealth  of  the  people,  these  few  figures  will  be  of 
service :  — 


1796. 

1S00. 

1S10. 

1810. 

18,6-23 

3,453 

817 

846 

17,050 

2,998 

760 

572 

14,680 
2,572 
1,157 

442 

11,635 
1,991 

728 
456 

"      "      "        "     "  Hartford  County 

"       "      "         "     "Hartford 

Wethersfield  began  by  having  more  than  Hartford,  but  a  half  dis- 
appeared in  fourteen  years.  Hartford's  share  fell  off  forty  per  cent 
between  1810  and  1818.  Perhaps  the  hard  times  of  1812  had  to  do 
with  this ;  but  there  are  suggestions,  all  through  the  figures,  that  there 
has  been  a  progressive  skill  in  the  art  of  making  out  one's  tax-list 
which  has  been  an  important  factor  in  the  problem. 

In  1796  there  were  only  47  gold  watches  in  Hartford  County.  There 
was  not  one  in  Bristol,  East  Windsor,  Farmington,  Glastonbury,  Hart- 
land,  or  Simsbury.  There  were  only  173  in  the  whole  State,  so  that 
this  county  had  more  than  a  quarter  of  all.  In  Hartford  alone  there 
were  28,  or  nearly  one  sixth  of  all  in  the  State.  Wethersfield  had  7. 
There  were  524  silver  watches  in  the  county,  of  which  130  were  in 
Hartford,  and  55  in  Wethersfield.  In  1818  there  were  only  93  gold 
watches  in  the  county,  and  only  724  silver,  while  in  1810  the  numbers 
had  been   respectively  369  and  934. 

In  1796  carriages  were  very  scarce,  although  horses  were  more 
abundant  than  they  were  later.  This  county  had  7,608  horses,  or 
"  horse-kind,"  in  1796,  and  6,459  in  1810,  a  decrease  of  more  than 
eleven  hundred  ;  but  during  that  period  vehicles  had  increased  notice- 
ably. At  the  date  first  mentioned  there  was  only  one  carriage  in  the 
State  designated  as  a  "  coach,"  and  taxed  as  worth  $84.  It  was  owned 
in  Hartford,  and  for  several  years  it  remained  the  only  coach.  New 
Haven  had  a  "  chariot "  taxed  at  $67  ;  and,  of  less  pretentious  vehi- 
cles, Hartford  had  two  "  phaetons,"  and  Suffielcl  one.  There  were  also 
"  coaches  at  $17,"  of  which  Hartford  had  twelve,  East  Windsor  three, 
and  Granby  one  ;  these  were  all  in  the  county.  In  1799  Windsor  pos- 
sessed a  "  coach  at  $84,"  sharing  with  Hartford  the  highest  dignity  on 


THE   GROWTH   OF   THE   COUNTY.  213 

wheels.  In  that  year  Hartford  had  ten  coaches,  but  a  year  later  the 
number  was  reduced  to  eight.  In  1806  Hartford  had  advanced  to  the 
honor  of  possessing-  a  coach  taxed  at  $168,  which  was  the  only  one  in 
the  county.  Shortly  after  this,  four-wheeled  vehicles  became  more 
abundant,  and  less  care  is  shown  in  the  record  of  them  ;  but  while  they 
were  so  very  few  their  number  must  have  been  correctly  given,  else  the 
error  would  have  been  noticed.  These  figures  are  cited  to  indicate  the 
primitive  condition  of  things  at  that  period  ; *  and  it  is  of  interest  to 
notice  that  horses  were  then  much  more  numerous  relatively  than  they 
now  are.  In  1796  the  county  had  one  horse  for  each  five  persons  of 
the  population  ;  in  1810  one  for  each  seven  persons.  In  1880  it  had 
but  one  horse  for  each  fourteen  people.  The  increase  and  improvement 
of  vehicles  has  probably  enabled  one  horse  to  do  far  more  work  than  one 
could  at  that  early  time.  Horses,  as  is  said,  have  relatively  decreased, 
and  their  actual  increase  is  only  1,164  in  the  county  since  1796. 
Sheep,  on  the  other  hand,  show  no  actual  increase  whatever,  but  a  very 
marked  decrease.  In  1810,  and  for  years  at  about  that  period,  the 
State  offered  a  bounty  for  sheep-culture,  by  deducting  seventy-five  cents 
from  the  tax  for  each  sheep  raised.  In  that  year  there  were  314,138 
sheep  in  the  State  against  59,431  in  1880  ;  in  Hartford  County,  in  1810, 
there  were  49,711,  but  in  1880  the  number  had  fallen  to  4,961,  or  a 
little  less  than  one  tenth. 

Hartford  County  has  had  no  little  influence  upon  the  live-stock 
interests  of  the  country.  The  sight  of  the  first  woollen  mill  in  New 
England,  which  was  in  this  city,  suggested  to  General  David  Humphreys 
the  value  of  raising  our  own  wool ;  and  in  1802,  when  he  was  Minister 
to  Spain,  he  introduced  in  this  country  a  large  flock  of  the  Spanish 
merino  sheep.  Mr.  John  A.  Taintor,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Hartford, 
is  said  to  have  imported  to  Hartford,  in  1846,  the  first  French  merino 
sheep,  though  another  account  names  Mr.  D.  C.  Collins,  also  of  Hart- 
ford, as  the  first  importer.  Mr.  Taintor  was  influential  in  introducing 
Jersey  cattle  in  this  country,  and  sent  over  to  Hartford  the  first  Jersey 
herd2  ever  brought  to  the  United  States. 

In  1796  Hartford  County  had  55,378  acres  of  "  ploughing  land,"  and 
the  State  had  264,507.  In  1880  the  "improved  land"  in  Hartford 
County  alone  was  264,724  acres.  The  agricultural  products  of  the 
county  have  been  as  follows,  at  five  stated  periods,  in  the  past  forty 
years : 3  — 

1  As  late  as  1820,  Hartford  County  bad  but  655  "  riding  carriages,"  and  there  was  not 
one  in  Burlington  or  Hartland.  Hartford  had  160,  East  Windsor  66,  Berlin  64,  Wethers- 
field  62,  and  Windsor  60. 

2  The  importation  was  the  result  of  a  chance  conversation.  Mr.  Taintor,  when  about  to 
sail  for  England,  was  in  the  office  of  Beach  &  Co.,  in  Hartford,  and  Mr.  Daniel  Buck  suggested 
to  him  that  he  bring  home  some  Jerseys.  He  said  he  would  visit  the  island  if  a  purse  were 
made  up  sufficient  to  make  the  purchase  worth  the  while.  Accordingly  he  was  commissioned 
to  buy  twelve.  Messrs.  Taintor  and  Buck  each  took  three,  and  those  who  took  one  each  were 
Messrs.  George  Beach,  Elisha  Colt,  Austin  Dunham,  and  Lawson  C.  Ives.  The  cattle  came  over 
safely  in  1850  on  the  ship  "Splendid,"  and  founded  the  "Splendid  "  strain  of  Jerseys.  They 
were  not  selected  for  color,  but  were  bought,  regardless  of  cost,  on  their  more  material  qualities. 
Since  that  time  the  county  has  always  been  remarkable  for  its  fine  cattle.  The  herd  of  John 
T.  Norton,  in  Farmington,  was  famous  for  years,  and  now  Bristol,  Glastonbury,  Manchester, 
Wethersfield,  and  in  fact  a  great  many  of  the  towns,  have  more  than  a  local  fame  for  their 
choice  herds  of  Jerseys  and  of  other  valuable  breeds. 

3  The  statistics  of  tobacco  for  this  same  period  are  given  in  the  special  article  on  that 
subject. 


214 


MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


Buckwheat,  bushels. 
Corn,  Indian,     " 
Potatoes,  " 

Oats,  "      , 

Rye,  "      . 

Wheat,  .     "      . 

Hay,  tons 

Wool,  pounds 

Cattle,   heads 

Sheep,  heads 


66,571 
278,863 
517,775 
219,084 
177,516 
13,419 
70,193 
122,365 
35,632 
4S.414 


381, 
49ii. 
210, 
150, 
5, 
80, 
65, 
30, 


33.920 

336,143 

384,103 

176,582 

120,419 

8,523 

87,721 

32,804 

36,194 

12,386 


17,203 

217,502 

450,158 

119,335 

69,3S7 

6,458 

95,615 

25,925 

35,692 

8,000 


20,447 

337,109 

542,522 

83,261 

86,578 

5,233 

104,715 

22,117 

40,166 

4,961 


It  will  be  seen  that  all  the  cereals,  except  Indian  corn,  have  declined 
largely,  —  wheat  and  rye  each  one  half,  oats  three  fifths,  and  buck- 
wheat two  thirds,  —  while  the  product  of  wool  is  not  one  fifth  what  it 
was  in  1840.  Hay  has  steadily  increased,  and  potatoes  are  cultivated 
more  abundantly  than  heretofore. 

Manufacturing  began  early  in  the  county,  and  its  beginnings  and  its 
diversities  have  been  already  spoken  of  in  this  article.  It  struggled 
against  many  obstacles,  and  did  not  assume  large  importance  until 
after  1840.  In  that  year  the  employes  of  manufactories  in  the  county 
numbered  4,040,  and  the  capital  invested  was  a  trifle  over  #3,000,000. 
Twenty  years  later  the  capital  exceeded  111,000,000,  and  after  another 
twenty  years  it  exceeded  $27,500,000,  while  the  number  of  employes 
had  grown  from  4,040  to  20,951.  The  following  table  shows  the  devel- 
opment of  the  manufacturing  industries  of  the  county  :  — 


Establishments. 

Capital. 

Employes. 

Wages. 

Material. 

Product. 

1840 
1860 
1870 
18S0 

405 
1031 

880 

$3,161,369 
11,171,000 
21,260,000 
27,691,000 

4,040 
12,354 
19,103 
20,951 

$3,676,000 
9,316,684 
8,457,000 

$8,157,000 
17,543,000 
18,502,000 

$16,827,000 
35,000,000 
34,609,000 

Besides  the  growth  of  Hartford  itself,  this  period  has  seen  the  devel- 
opment of  New  Britain  into  a  great  producing  centre,  whose  goods  are 
known  around  the  world,  and  has  seen  the  silk-works  of  South  Man- 
chester, the  axe-works  of  Collinsville,  and  the  carpet-works  of  Thomp- 
sonville  come  forward  to  rank  among  the  first  of  their  kind  in  the 
country.  Southington,  too,  and  Windsor  Locks,  with  their  products, 
have  come  into  prominence,  and  the  paper  interests,  long  established, 
have  vastly  increased  in  importance.  The  taxable  property  in  the 
county  is  reported  at  #86,000,000,  or  nearly  one  quarter  the  valuation 
of  the  whole  State,  which  at  the  same  date  is  #350,000,000. 


HARTFORD  COUNTY  TOBACCO.  215 


HARTFORD   COUNTY  TOBACCO. 

BY    FRED.    S.    BROWN. 

Tobacco  has  been  a  product  of  Hartford  County  since  its  settle- 
ment, and  was  a  favorite  crop  of  the  Indians  previous  to  that  time.  In 
the  settlement  of  Virginia,  tobacco  was  one  of  the  first  articles  of  traffic, 
as  its  use  was  general  among  the  early  settlers,  and  it  was  exported  to 
England  and  Holland.  It  was  held  in  higher  esteem  than  that  raised 
in  Connecticut,  as  it  was  adapted  for  snuffs  and  smoking  in  pipes, 
which  constituted  the  general  requirement  at  that  early  period. 

As  early  as  1640  an  act  was  passed  in  Connecticut  restricting  the 
use  of  tobacco  to  that  grown  in  the  colony.  In  1662  a  duty  of  two- 
pence per  pound  was  laid  upon  all  tobacco  brought  into  Connecticut. 
By  1753  it  had  become  an  article  of  export,  and  inspectors  were  ap- 
pointed to  examine  that  which  was  intended  for  shipment.  But  at  no 
period  previous  to  this  century  did  the  yearly  production  of  tobacco  in 
the  Connecticut  Valley  amount  to  any  considerable  quantity.  It  was 
sold  for  from  three  to  four  dollars  per  hundred  pounds.  It  is  within 
the  last  forty  years  that  the  reputation  of  Connecticut  tobacco  for  cigar- 
leaf  has  been  established. 

Its  natural  locality  seems  to  be  in  the  river  towns  of  Hartford 
County.  Previous  to  1830  its  culture  was  general,  but  in  very  small 
quantities  compared  with  the  amount  produced  since  that  time.  It  was 
about  this  period  that  it  began  to  be  raised  in  larger  quantities  at  Ware- 
house Point  by  the  proprietors  of  the  distilleries  there,  who  had  a  surplus 
of  fertilizers  from  their  establishments,  which  they  utilized  in  that  way. 
From  Hartford  County  its  culture  has  extended  into  all  sections  of 
the  State.  It  has  also  been  extensively  produced  in  the  valley  of  the 
Connecticut  River  in  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  and  New  Hampshire,  its 
quality  and  character  changing  in  a  measure  after  passing  the  State 
line. 

The  special  use  of  the  Connecticut  seed-leaf  is  for  wrappers,  —  the  out- 
side covering  of  cigars.  Those  leaves  that  are  not  suitable  for  wrappers 
are,  if  they  have  sufficient  surface,  used  for  inside  wrappers  or  binders 
for  the  filler  of  the  cigar,  and  those  that  will  not  answer  for  this  purpose 
are  called  "  fillers."  But  these  last  do  not  maintain  the  same  superior 
rank  for  their  purpose  that  the  wrappers  and  binders  do  for  the  use 
they  are  put  to.  There  is  no  special  flavor  to  Connecticut  tobacco  ;  and 
so  a  cigar,  filled  with  Havana  tobacco  and  covered  with  a  Connecticut 
wrapper,  will  maintain  nearly  the  same  flavor  and  quality  that  it  would 
have  were  it  all  Havana  tobacco,  except  that  it  may  be  a  trifle  milder, 
which  in  most  cases  is  agreeable  to  the  smoker.  When  the  Havana 
filler  is  deficient  in  burning  quality,  a  Connecticut  wrapper  adds  greatly 
to  its  value. 

The  original  tobacco  of  this  county  is  a  long,  lance-shaped  leaf,  with 
the  veins  running  at  an  acute  angle  to  the  stem.  It  was  known  as  the 
"  shoestring  tobacco,"  from  the  length  and   narrowness  of  the   leaf. 


216 


MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 


This  is  objectionable,  as  the  veins  are  so  close  together  and  run  so 
nearly  parallel  to  the  length  of  the  leaf  that  they  give  a  coarse  appear- 
ance to  the  cigar  which  it  covers.  The  quality  of  the  nat- 
ural tobacco  is  good  ;  it  will  hold  its  elasticity  and  kid-like 
softness  much  longer  than  the  cultivated  sort,  and  will  go 
through  a  "  sweat  "  without  becoming  tender,  and  on  this 
account  will  produce  more  wrappers.  It,  however,  has  been 
superseded  by  a  much  longer  and  broader  leaf  produced 
by  introducing  seed  from  other  States  and  countries. 

The  name  "  Connecticut  seed-leaf  tobacco  "  was  first 
applied  to  the  product  of  the  new  seed  when  it  was  put  on 
the  market,  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  narrow  or  "shoestring"  sort. 
The  increased  demand  for  cigar- 
leaf  has  extended  its  production 
from  the  valleys  of  the  Connecti- 
cut to  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  Wisconsin,  and  other  West- 
ern States ;  so  that  the  distinct 
kind  from  each  State  has  become 
a  staple  in  the  markets,  each  known  by  its 
peculiarities. 

There  is  no  other  section  of  the  country 
that  can  produce  so  many  pounds  of  tobacco 
to  the  acre  as  some  of  our  Hartford  County 
lands.  An  ordinary  yield  in  a  good  season 
is  from  eighteen  hundred  to  two  thousand 
pounds  to  the  acre ;  and  from  that  to  twenty- 
eight  hundred  pounds,  which  is  sometimes 
secured  in  some  sections  of  the  county,  though 
for  this  the  most  favorable  conditions  are  re- 
quired. 

The  writer  has  before  him  an  abstract  of 
an  account  of  five  crops  of  tobacco  raised  by 
Jones  Brothers,  of  South  Windsor,  which  is  as  follows 


Crop  of 

Acres 

,  rods. 

Pounds. 

i 

'ounds  per  acre. 

Sold  for 

186G 

2 

88 

7,147 

2,802 

$4,200.00 

18G8 

5 

11,870 

2,374 

6,401.10 

18G9 

rj 

120 

13,722 

2,386 

9,743.65 

1871 

7 

80 

19,472 

2,596 

12,387.65 

1873 

12 

20 

30,820 
83,031  @ 

53f 

2,542 

cts.   f*  ft).  = 

11,960.75 

32 

148 

=  $44,693.15 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  are  not  all  consecutive  crops ;  those 
intervening  were  ordinary  in  amount  and  quality.  The  object  in  quot- 
ing this  is  to  show  what  number  of  pounds  the  land  is  capable  of  pro- 
ducing, and  what  has  been  realized  for  the  crops  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances.  The  writer  was  the  purchaser  of  one  of  these  crops, 
for  which  he  paid  seventy-five  cents  per  pound  for  the  wrappers  ;  and 
the  following  season,  when  they  were  in  condition  to  be  worked,  he 
sold  them  for  one  dollar  per  pound  to  a  manufacturer  of  cigars,  who 


HARTFORD  COUNTY  TOBACCO.  217 

found  that  from  the  extreme  fineness  of  the  leaf,  it  produced  a  thousand 
cigar-wrappers  at  a  less  cost  than  that  of  the  same  number  of  wrappers 
from  ordinary  tobacco  at  ordinary  prices.  Thus  the  extraordinary 
amount  paid  for  the  crop  was  justified  by  the  favorable  results.  The 
prices  paid  for  good  tobacco  in  this  county  at  that  time  were  from 
twenty-five  to  forty  cents  per  pound.  The  same  goods  previous  to  1860 
and  at  dates  subsequent  to  those  just  quoted  have  been  sold  at  much 
lower  prices.  The  amount  of  fertilizer  required  to  produce  a  large 
crop  is  from  eight  to  ten  cords  per  acre.  This  is  frequently  brought 
from  the  stables  of  New  York  and  Boston,  and  delivered  here  on  the 
dock  or  at  stations  at  from  eight  to  twelve  dollars  per  cord. 

Experiments  in  the  use  of  seed  from  Havana  tobacco  x  have  been 
made  from  time  to  time,  since  1840,  with  no  favorable  results  until 
recently.  The  product  for  the  first  two  or  three  years  from  this  seed  is 
a  small  leaf  resembling  Havana  very  much  in  size  and  texture,  but  not 
finding  favor  with  manufacturers,  as  it  would  not  cure  by  the  same 
means  and  as  readily  as  that  raised  from  other  seed.  It  is  now 
demonstrated  that  the  crop  raised  from  seed  of  the  fourth  year  of  plant- 
ing makes  a  very  desirable  leaf,  and  its  culture  is  being  extended  as  it 
grows  in  favor.  The  leaf  is  about  two  thirds  the  size  of  what  is  known 
as  Connecticut  seed-leaf,  and  as  it  grows  more  closely  together  will, 
under  favorable  circumstances,  yield  a  ton  to  the  acre. 

The  census  report  of  1880  gives  the  following  as  the  product  of 
Connecticut  seed-leaf  tobacco  for  the  years  cited :  1840, 471,647  pounds  ; 
1850,  1,267,624  pounds;  1860,  6,000,133  pounds;  1870,  8,328,798 
pounds ;  1880,  14,044,652  pounds. 

The  following  is  the  product  of  the  crop  of  1879  through  the  State 
by  counties :  — 

Acres.  Pounds.        Pounds  per  acre. 

Fairfield 802  973,933  1,214 

Litchfield 1,586  2,211,151  1,394 

Middlesex 573  906,753  1,582 

New  Haven 167  215,195  1,200 

New  London 19  29,622  1,500 

Tolland 405  666,634  1,646 

Windham 2  1,850  925 

Hartford 5,112  9,039,514  1,768 

By  this  it  will  be  seen  that  Hartford  County  produces  sixty-five  per 
cent' of  all  the  tobacco  grown  in  the  State,  and  over  one  hundred  and 
twenty  pounds  more  per  acre  than  any  other  county.  The  average 
product  of  the  State  is  sixteen  hundred  and  twenty-one  pounds  per  acre, 
which  is  a  larger  yield  than  that  of  any  other  State  in  the  Union.  Of 
the  twenty-eight  tobacco-growing  States  in  the  country,  Connecticut 
stands  sixth  in  the  value  of  the  crop  ;  and  there  were  but  nine  States  in 
1879  that  produced  more  tobacco  than  was  raised  in  Hartford  County. 

In  1843  Peruvian  guano  was  first  introduced  as  a  commercial  fertil- 
izer. About  the  first  experiments  with  it  were  on  the  tobacco-fields  of 
Cuba,  at  the  time  when  all  of  the  better  class  of  cigars  manufactured 

1  The  United  States  Government  frequently  distributed  Havana  seed  among  the  farmers, 
and  the  product  is  known  in  the  market  as  "  Havana  seed." 


218  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

in  this  country  were  from  Cuban  tobacco,  which  was  of  most  excellent 
quality.  Its  only  trouble  was  its  deficiency  in  wrappers.  To  increase 
its  size  and  stimulate  its  growth,  guano  was  used.  It  had  the  desired 
effect,  but  at  a  loss  of  the  fine  burning  quality  and  flavor.  From  that 
time  there  has  been  a  gradual  falling  off  in  the  use  of  Spanish  tobacco 
for  wrappers  in  this  country  ;  so  that  at  this  time  they  are  rarely  used, 
successfully,  by  any  of  our  cigar-manufacturers. 

It  was  from  the  introduction  of  the  use  of  guano  on  the  tobacco- 
fields  of  Cuba  that  the  demand  for  Connecticut  tobacco  for  wrappers 
began.  The  German  cigar-manufacturers  were  the  first  to  develop  the 
quality  of  Connecticut  tobacco  for  wrappers,  as  their  first  purchases 
were  packed  in  parcels  of  about  four  hundred  pounds  each.  These 
were  much  larger  than  had  been  the  custom,  and  this  method  proved 
to  be  what  was  requisite  to  enable  the  tobacco  to  pass  through  a  "  sweat- 
ing "  process  during  the  voyage  to  Germany,  which  changed  it,  so  far 
as  its  quality  was  concerned,  into  an  entirely  different  article  from  what 
it  had  been  known  to  be  up  to  that  time.  Previous  to  this,  what  was 
packed  to  be  sent  away  was  in  small  irregular-sized  boxes,  such  as  had 
been  used  for  dry  goods  and  other  merchandise.  In  1830  three  hundred 
bales  of  about  one  hundred  pounds  each  were  shipped  from  Warehouse 
Point.  The  bales  were  made  with  strips  of  boards,  fastened  around 
the  four  sides  with  strops  made  from  hoop-poles.  It  was  thought  neces- 
sary to  pack  it  light,  and  in  such  quantities  that  it  should  not  heat,  or 
sweat;  though  later  it  was  demonstrated  that  this  process  was  just 
what  was  required  to  develop  it.  The  new  method  adopted  by  the 
Germans  of  packing  and  curing  soon  brought  it  into  favor,  and  from 
that  time  the  manufacturers  of  cigars  in  this  country  have  to  a  great 
extent  relied  upon  Connecticut  tobacco  for  wrappers.  Of  late  years  the 
quality  of  that  produced  in  some  sections  of  the  State  has  been  injured 
by  the  growers  who  use  guano  in  part  as  a  fertilizer  ;  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  more  than  any  other  that  they  find  the  trade  looking  for  a  sub- 
stitute for  Connecticut  wrappers  in  some  of  the  new  products  that  have 
lately  appeared  in  the  markets. 

Hartford  County  tobacco  produced  on  proper  soil,  with  natural 
fertilizers,  is  the  best  burning  cigar-leaf  raised,  and  there  is  hardly  a 
limit  to  the  demand  for  it.  When  improper  fertilizers  are  used,  it  is 
done  at  the  loss  of  burning  quality,  which  brings  it  to  the  level  of  any 
low-grade  tobacco.  A  good  burning  wrapper  will  make  a  good  cigar, 
and  a  manufacturer  can  afford  to  pay  an  extra  price  for  that  rather  than 
work  a  wrapper  that  will  not  burn  well,  were  he  to  receive  the  latter  for 
nothing. 

Before  the  demand  developed  for  Connecticut  tobacco,  its  product 
was  confined  to  a  few  towns  in  Hartford  County,  and  most  of  it  was 
worked  into  cigars  by  the  female  members  of  the  family  of  the  grower. 
The  cigars  made  were  known  to  the  trade  as  ""Supers,"  "  Long  Nines," 
and  "  Short  Sixes." 

The  Supers  were  rolled  as  cigars  now  are,  with  the  exception  of  a 
twist  that  would  kink  the  wrapper  at  the  end  and  prevent  it  unrolling, 
which  was  the  method  of  finishing  the  heads  of  all  cigars  up  to  1839, 
when  the  first  specimens  of  "  paste  heads  "  were  imported  from  Havana. 
The  Long  Nines  were  a  long,  thin  cigar,  about  the  size  of  a  new  lead- 
pencil,  looking  something  like  a  Catalpa-bean  pod.     They  were  made 


HARTFOED  COUNTY  TOBACCO.  219 

by  the  wrapper  being  rolled  lengthwise  of  the  filler,  with  the  edges 
pasted  the  whole  length  of  the  cigar,  in  the  same  way  as  the  cheroots 
of  Manila  are  made.  The  Short  Sixes  were  made  in  the  same  way, 
and  were  about  two  thirds  the  length  of  Long  Nines.  They  were 
made  with  more  care  and  of  better  material,  as  they  were  intended  for 
the  home  trade.  They  could  always  be  found  on  the  bar  of  the  country 
tavern,  free  to  the  guests  after  a  meal;  but  to  the  local  frequenter  of 
the  house  they  were  sold  at  two  for  a  cent. 

The  Supers  were  sold  in  bulk  to  the  storekeeper,  in  exchange  for 
store  goods,  for  from  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  to  two  dollars  per  thousand. 
They  would  then  be  packed  into  cigar-boxes,  labelled  and  branded, 
and  again  be  "  traded  "  for  goods  to  some  wholesale  dealer  in  the  city ; 
and  by  him  they  would  be  distributed  into  all  sections  visited  by  the 
sailor  or  trader.  The  Long  Nines  were  always  done  up  in  bundles  of 
twenty-five  or  fifty,  and  held  together  with  three  bands  of  bast,  one  at 
each  end  and  one  in  the  middle  of  the  bunch.  They  were  packed  in 
barrels  which  would  hold  about  five  thousand  each,  and  were  usually 
sent  to  Boston,  and  from  there  found  their  way  into  all  the  fishing  and 
seaport  towns  along  the  coast.  The  storekeepers  usually  paid  the 
farmers  for  this  sort  from  seventy-five  cents  to  a  dollar  and  a  quarter 
per  thousand.  A  good  hand  would  make  from  eight  to  ten  hundred 
per  day  of  the  Supers,  and  a  third  more  of  the  Long  Nines  and  Short 
Sixes.  ' 

As  the  tobacco  was  not  taken  into  the  account  in  calculating  the 
cost  of  these  cigars,  the  day's  wages  would  be  estimated  at  all  they 
received  for  them  when  sold  ;  and,  as  money  was  scarce  in  those  days, 
the  cigars  produced  by  the  families  answered  as  a  good  substitute  for 
currency.  These  were  receivable  in  any  of  the  local  stores  for  whatever 
was  wanted  ;  and  it  was  not  infrequently  the  case  that  all  the  dry  goods 
and  groceries  that  were  necessary  for  a  farmer  and  his  family  were 
purchased  with  the  cigars  rolled  by  the  farmer's  wife  at  such  times  as 
she  would  not  be  employed  by  her  household  duties.  After  the  great 
demand  for  Connecticut  tobacco  had  developed,  the  trade  of  making 
cheap  cigars  by  the  farmers  gradually  lessened ;  and  the  internal- 
revenue  tax  put  an  end  to  the  whole  business. 

In  addition,  there  were  a  few  establishments  that  employed  more 
competent  hands  and  worked  tobacco  that  had  improved  somewhat  by 
age.  Such  cigars  were  handsomely  packed,  and  were  supplied  to  the 
trade  as  "  Half  Spanish."  They  would  be  sold  at  from  four  to  five 
dollars  per  thousand  by  the  box,  and  were  retailed  at  the  stores  for  one 
cent  each.  Many  of  these  were  made  at  Suffield,  where  there  were 
some  firms  that  dealt  largely  in  the  local  furs  of  New  England.  To 
collect  the  skins,  young  men  were  employed  as  pedlers,  who  visited  all 
sections  of  New  England,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey,  with  wagons 
loaded  with  gunpowder,  wooden  clocks,  cotton  yarn,  indigo,  and  cigars. 
The  powder  was  manufactured  at  Enfield  and  the  clocks  were  made  at 
Bristol.  With  such  goods  as  these  the  young  fellows,  who  were  then 
known  as  "  Yankee  pedlers,"  but  w'ould  be  now  known  as  "  drummers," 
would  start  out  ready  for  a  trade  or  "  dicker  "  for  anything  that  offered, 
but  principally  for  furs,  which  were  the  object  of  the  trip. 

As  early  as  1810  Simeon  Viets,  of  West  Suffield,  had  a  large 
establishment  in  that  place,  employing  as  many  as  twelve  or  fifteen 


220  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

females  at  the  work.  About  this  time  he  made  purchases  of  Spanish 
tobacco,  and  then  employed  a  cigar-maker  from  Cuba  to  work  it.  This 
was  the  first  Spanish  tobacco  worked  in  Suffield,  and  the  Cuban  was 
the  first  male  cigar-maker  employed  there.  From  this  beginning  the 
town  obtained  a  great  reputation,  and  became  famous  for  the  number 
of  men  employed  at  cigar-making,  and  the  large  quantities  of  Spanish 
tobacco  that  were  brought  there  to  be  worked  and  sold  to  the  trade 
generally.  For  a  long  time  after  the  development  of  our  seed  tobacco, 
Suffield  was  the  centre  from  which  most  of  it  found  its  way  into  market, 
and  was  visited  by  dealers  from  all  parts  of  the  country  for  their  sup- 
plies. Not  alone  was  domestic  tobacco  sought  for,  but  the  better  grades 
of  Spanish  tobacco  could  be  found  there  in  large  quantities. 

Frequently  Messrs.  Allen  Loomis  and  Parkes  Loomis  would  unite 
with  their  neighbors,  King  and  Birge,  and  go  into  the  market  and  buy  up 
entire  cargoes  of  Yara  tobacco  as  it  arrived,  and  take  it  to  Sumeld, 
where  it  would  be  stored  in  the  cellars  of  quiet,  unbusiness-like  farm- 
houses, which  would  be  visited  by  manufacturers  from  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  who  were  in  want  of  this  particular  kind  of 
tobacco,  that  could  not  be  had  at  that  time  in  any  other  market.  This 
was  not  an  uncommon  occurrence  between  the  years  1845  and  1860. 

After  the  war  and  the  internal-revenue  laws,  that  at  first  seemed  so 
stringent  on  the  manufacturers  of  cigars  and  tobacco,  the  trade  seemed 
less  desirable  to  the  old  dealers  in  Suffield,  and  by  degrees  much  of  it 
left  the  town,  and  has  been  concentrated  in  extensive  establishments  in 
the  large  cities  east  and  west,  some  of  which  are  now  employing  as 
many  as  two  thousand  persons  each.  There  are  still  some  respectable 
establishments  engaged  in  the  trade  in  and  about  Suffield,  but  they  arc 
small  in  comparison  to  what  they  were  previous  to  1860. 

The  old  house  of  Oswyn  Wells,  that  had  its  first  beginning  in  the 
town  of  Glastonbury,  should  be  mentioned  in  any  history  that  gives  an 
account  of  the  development  of  the  tobacco  trade  of  Hartford  County. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  engage  in  packing  tobacco  for  the  trade,  and 
for  a  long  time  there  were  many  manufacturers  in  the  county  who  would 
never  purchase  their  supplies  except  when  each  package  bore  his  initials, 
"  0.  W.,"  which  was  a  guarantee  that  it  was  "  Connecticut  seed-leaf 
tobacco,"  grown  in  Hartford  County,  and  of  the  best  quality.  His 
trade  developed  into  such  proportions  that  it  became  necessary  for  him 
to  establish  packing-houses  in  several  towns  in  the  county,  with  his 
principal  store  in  Hartford.  After  his  death  it  was  continued  by  his 
son,  whose  recent  death  leaves  the  trade  without  a  representative  of  the 
name  that  has  done  so  much  for  its  development. 


part  II.  —  f  artforD,  Coton  ana  City* 


CHAPTER    I. 


SECTION   I. 

SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  TOWN. 

BY    SHERMAN   W.    ADAMS. 

The  First  Arrivals.  —  Land  Titles  and  Divisions. — The  Name  of  Hartford,  Etc. 

AN  account  of  the  earliest  English  settlers  of  Hartford  is  included 
in  Dr.  Tarbox's  paper,  "  The  Exodus  and  the  First  Comers " 
(pp.  29-36),  and  in  Miss  Talcott's  notices  of  the  Original  Pro- 
prietors (pp.  227-276),  in  this  volume;  but  we  may  add  here  a  few- 
lines  stating  general  facts.  On  the  9th  of  June,  1634,  as  we  are  told  in 
Winthrop's  "  History  of  New  England,"  "  six  of  Newtown  went  in  the 
Blessing  (being  bound  to  the  Dutch  plantation*),  to  discover  Connecticut 
River,  intending  to  remove  their  town  thither."  So  that  in  1634  there 
was  a  present  intention  of  the  Newtown  people  to  migrate  to  the  place 
afterward  planted  by  them,  now  Hartford. 

A  few  people  from  Newtown  (afterward  called  Cambridge),  reached 
Suckiaug  early  in  1635  ;  and  in  November  about  sixty  are  said  to  have 
arrived.  The  very  earliest  of  these  immigrants  formed  the  company 
thereafter  known  as  "  Adventurers  ; "  and  to  them  belonged  the  section 
known  in  our  records  as  Venturers'  Field.  The  tract  contained  about 
thirty-five  acres,  and  is  situate  on  the  west  side  of  the  present  Albany 
Avenue,  being  nowT  traversed  by  Garden  Street.  The  Adventurers 
were  about  twelve  in  number,  and  their  names,  so  far  as  known,  were 
as  follows :  — 

John  Barnard,  Richard  Goodman,  Stephen  Hart,  Matthew  Marvin,  James 
Olmsted,  William  Pantry,  Thomas  Scott,  Thomas  Stanley,  John  Steele,  John 
Talcott,  Richard  Webb,  William  Westwood. 

Mr.  Talcott  is  generally  supposed  not  to  have  reached  Hartford  until 
1636  ;  but  the  records  strongly  indicate  that,  either  in  person  or  by 
representation,  he  wras  here  as  an  Adventurer.  But  some  of  the  earliest 
comers  of  1636  may  have  been  included  in  that  class. 

More  Newtown  people  arrived  in  the  early  spring  of  1636  ;  and  in 
June  of  the  same  year  came  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  with  about 
a  hundred  people,  including  women  and  children.  The  Rev.  Samuel 
Stone  was  of  this  party.  About  this  time  a  deed  of  cession  was  obtained 
from  Sunckquasson,  "  Sachem  of  Suckiage."  In  it,  as  is  supposed  (for 
the  original  deed  was  lost),  was  a  reservation  permitting  the  Indians 
to  occupy  a  section  in  the  South  meadows,  near  the  Dutchmen's  land ; 


222  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

substantially  the  same  reservation  that  the  Dutch  had  previously  agreed 
to  allow  to  "  the  Sequeen."  The  tract  conveyed  was  known  as  Suckiaug 
(sometimes  spelled  Sicaogg,  and  by  the  Dutch,  Sickajoeck)  ;  a  name 
which  Dr.  J.  H.  Trumbull  interprets,  "  black  (or  dark-colored)  earth." 
It  was  bounded  northerly  by  the  present  Windsor ;  southerly,  by  Wethers- 
field  ;  the  River,  east ;  and  the  "  Wilderness,"  six  miles  distant,  west. 
The  grantees  were  the  Rev.  Samuel  Stone  and  Mr.  William  Goodwin, 
"  in  the  behalfe  of  the  Proprietors."  Sunckquasson  (or  Sequassen) 
was  a  son  of  Sequin1  (or  Sequeen,  or  "the  Sequeen,"  as  he  was  vari- 
ously called),  and  a  Sachem  under  Miantunnomoh,  the  head  of  the 
Narragansetts.  He  subsequently  —  when  is  not  known  —  extended 
the  western  bounds  "  so  far  as  his  country  went ; "  which  was  to  the 
domain  of  "  Pethus,  the  Sachem,  or  gentleman,  of  Tunxis."  This  latter 
grant  was  "to  the  honoured  John  Haynes,  Esqr.,  and  other  the  first 
magistrates  of  this  place."  Most  of  those  facts  are  recited  in  the  con- 
firmatory deed  of  Masseckup,  and  others,  in  July,  1670. 

The  grant  of  1686  was  not  made  to  the  town,  nor  to  the  plantation ; 
but  to  the  grantees  named,  and  their  associates,  the  "  Proprietors." 
Those  gentlemen  paid  for  the  tract  by  a  special  rate  or  tax,  and  there- 
after they,  and  their  heirs  and  assigns,  constituted  the  body  called  the 
Proprietors.  Until  1640  those  Proprietors  who  dwelt  north  of  Little 
River  held  their  meetings  separately  from  the  meetings  of  those  on  the 
south  side ;  then  the  town,  hy  vote,  refused  to  sanction  such  separate 
meetings.  There  was  a  "  North  Side  "  and  a  "  South  Side  "  book  of 
records  ;  and  afterward  a  general  book,  showing  when,  and  to  whom, 
allotments  of  lands  were  made,  and  what  commons  were  established. 
These  books  are  (probably  irrecoverably)  lost.  The  original  Proprie- 
tors were  ninety-seven  in  number.  The  disposal  of  the  "  common  and 
undivided,"  or  "ungiven"  lands  was  generally  the  subject  of  Proprie- 
tors' meetings ;  but  special  grants,  and  some  general  votes  as  to  the 
rule  for  allotting,  conditions  of  holding  lands,  etc.,  were  made  in  town- 
meetings.  This  was  not  objected  to,  for  the  "  legal  inhabitants,"  who 
alone  could  vote  in  town-meetings,  were,  practically,  identical  with 
those  people  who  were  entitled  to  vote  in  Proprietors'  meetings.  And 
so  the  General  Court,  in  1639,  enacted  that  the  three  river  towns  might 
"  dispose  of  their  ungranted  lands."  An  early  vote  of  Hartford,  passed 
in  1639  or  earlier,  made  it  a  condition  of  the  title  to  lands  held  in  sever- 
alty that  the  owner  thereof  forfeited  them  if  he  removed  within  four 
years.  If  a  "house-lot"  was  granted,  it  must  be  built  upon  within 
twelve  months  ;  if  the  owner  sold  it,  the  first  offer  of  sale  must  be  made 
to  the  town.  In  some  cases  special  grants  were  made  "  by  courtesy,"  or 
for  good  reason,  to  "  admitted  inhabitants,"  who  were  not  Proprietors, 
and  hence  had  no  legal  claim  to  have  land  set  out  to  them. 

The  Hartford  settlers,  who  at  first  considered  themselves  a  part  of 
the  old  Newtown,  were,  for  a  time,  like  the  -tfther  River  plantations, 
under  the  commission  for  government  granted  in  Massachusetts,  March 
3,  1636.  In  September,  1635,  William  Westwood  was  appointed  con- 
stable for  all  the  plantations.  In  April,  1636,  Samuel  Wakeman  was,  by 
the  General  Court  of  Connecticut,  appointed  constable  for  Hartford. 

On  the  21st  of  February,  1636-7,  Newtown  was  given  the  name  of 

1  This  Sequin  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  Sowheag,  Sachem  of  Pyquaug  and  Mattabesett, 
who  was  sometimes  called  Sequin. 


SETTLEMENT  OF  THE   TOWN.  223 

"  Hartford  Townc."  1  Although  the  plantation  had  sometimes  been 
called  a  "  town,"  even  by  the  Massachusetts  government,  its  existence 
as  a  township  must  be  said  to  date  only  from  the  termination  of  the 
commission-government,  in  1037.  The  first  townsmen  (selectmen)  of 
Hartford,  of  whom  there  is  any  record,  were  :  John  Talcott,  Samuel 
Wakeman,  and  William  Wadsworth  (?)  in  1638. 

The  name  Hartford  was  borrowed  from  the  township  of  Hertford, 
on  the  river  Lea,  in  Hertfordshire,  England.  There  the  name  is  pro- 
nounced Hartford,  or,  more  commonly,  Harford.  Bede,  who  died  a.  d. 
735,  sometimes  wrote  the  name  Herudford,  which  has  been  explained  as 
meaning  Red  Ford  ;  but  the  common  Anglo- 
Saxon  equivalent  for  red  was  redd.  Sir  Hen- 
ry Chauncey,  in  1700,  says  that  the  Britons 
called  the  place  Durocobriva  ;  which,  he 
says,  meant  Red  Ford.  Other  writers  have 
claimed  that  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  heort,  or 
heorot,  a  hart,  is  to  be  found  the  origin  of 
the  first  half  of  the  name.  Since  the  year 
1571  the  arms  of  the  borough  have  been, 
argent,  a  hart,  couchant,  in  a  ford ;  both 
proper.  This  emblem  of  a  stag  fording  a 
stream  may  not,  however,  have  indicated  a 
belief  that  the  name  was  due  to  a  similar  SEAl  of  hebtford,  kngland.s 
idea.     Finally,  in  the  latest  edition  of  the 

"  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  the  writer  of  the  article  entitled  "  Hert- 
ford "  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  name  is  a  corruption  of  Hereford, 
which  meant  an  army  ford. 

Why  Hartford  (or,  as  they  sometimes  wrote  it,  Hertford)  was  the 
name  selected  by  our  ancestors  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  it 
was  the  birthplace  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Stone,  who  was  the  first  grantee 
named  in  the  Indian  deed  of  1636.  Among  the  first  acts  of  the  Pro- 
prietors (if  indeed  the  Adventurers  did  not  anticipate  them)  was, 
naturally,  the  setting  apart  of  a  square  for  the  meeting-house,  and  with 
it,  perhaps,  a  place  of  burial  for  the  dead.  The  former  was  a  tract 
embracing  not  only  the  present  City  Hall  square,  but  a  space  whereof 
the  south  line  was  nearly  as  far  south  as  the  present  Grove  Street; 
the  north  line  being  nearly  coincident  with  the  present  Kinsley  Street. 
In  the  northeast  corner  stood  the  "  house  of  correction,"  erected  in 
1640;  the  size  whereof  was  twenty-four  feet  by  eighteen.  Near  the 
north  centre  were  a  few  graves.  The  meeting-house  stood  near  the 
east  centre  of  the  square,  and  near  it  was  a  "  little  house,"  which  in 
1639  was.  sold  by  the  town.     A  new  meeting-house  was  erected  here 

1  See  page  37,  ct  scq. 

2  This  is  the  seal  now  in  use  in  the  borough  town  of  Hertford,  and  the  arms  it  bears  are 
older  than  the  grant  by  Queen  Elizabeth  above-mentioned.  They  were  certainly  used  under 
the  charter  granted  by  Mary,  in  1554,  and  are  probably  of  much  higher  antiquity.  The  Hart 
is  standing  (not  couchant)  in  the  Ford,  and  bears  between  his  attires  a  cross-passion  :  and  the 
name  of  the  town  is  spelled  "  Hart  Forde."  Turner,  in  his  History  of  Hertford  (p.  73,  note) 
mentioning  the  grant  by  the  charter  of  Elizabeth,  adds  :  "But  as  this  clause  left  it  optional 
with  the  corporation  to  adopt  the  new  coat  of  arms  or  to  continue  their  more  ancient  one,  they 
preferred  the  latter  which  they  have  continued  to  use  until  the  present  day."  John  Worden, 
in  1598,  wrote,  in  his  "Speculum  Britannia;,"  a  "Chorographical  Description  of iZartford- 
shire:"  and  in  Bowen's  Geography,  published  so  late  as  1747,  the  county  is  described  as 
"  Hartford-shire "  and  its  "chief  town  is  Hartford."  —  Ed. 


224  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

the  same  year,  the  old  one  being  given  to  Mr.  Hooker,  who  removed  it 
to  his  residence  on  the  north  side  of  the  present  Arch  Street.  In  the 
southeast  corner  a  public  market  was  established  in  1648. 

The  Palisado  must  have  stood  on  the  north  bank  of  Little  River,  a 
few  rods  west  of  Main  Street  bridge.  It  was  built  before  the  town 
doings  were  recorded,  and  hence  no  record  of  its  construction  exists. 

A  bridge  across  Little  River  was  built  by  the  town  in  1638,  probably 
somewhat  west  of  the  present  Main  Street  bridge.  If  made  as  ordered, 
it  was  "  twelfe  feete  wide  betweene  ye  rayles,  wth  turned  ballesters 
on  ye  top."  This  must  have  been  the  structure  referred  to  by  Win- 
throp,  in  his  "  History  of  New  England,"  wherein  he  says,  under  date 
of  Dec.  10,  1646,  there  was  such  a  sudden  "  thaw  in  the  spring 
(the  snow  lying  very  deep),  and  much  rain  withal,  that  it  bare  down 
the  bridge  at  Hartford."  It  was  rebuilt  in  1647  or  1648 ;  for  the 
"  Great  Bridge  cross  the  riverett  by  the  mill  "  is  mentioned  in  the  town 
records  of  1649.  In  1651  the  alterations  of  this  structure  were  so 
great  that  the  General  Court  excused  Hartford  men  from  "  training  " 
on  October  6th  and  7th,  in  order  that  they  might  assist  in  "  raising  of 
the  worke  prepared  for  the  supporte  of  the  Great  bridge." 

The  "  School "  is  first  mentioned  in  a  town  vote  of  Dec.  6,  1642, 
when  thirty  pounds  per  year,  "  forever,"  was  "  seatled  upon  the 
Scoole  of  the  towne."  It  was  the  usage  to  set  school-houses  in  the 
highway,  and  thus  the  location  was  nut  a  matter  of  record.  There 
was  such  a  building  in  1644  ;  and  in  it  were  stored  "  2  great  gunns  & 
carriages  &  other  things  belonging  to  ym ;"  all  town  property. 

The  earliest  houses  fronted  as  follows :  On  both  sides  of  Main 
Street,  from  the  south  bank  of  Little  River  to  Morgan  Street ;  on  the 
east  side  of  Main,  from  Morgan  to  High  Street;  on  the  south  sides  of 
Sheldon  and  Elm  streets  ;  on  the  south  side  of  the  old  line  of  Bucking- 
ham Street ;  on  the  west  side  of  Lafayette  Street ;  on  the  west  side  of 
Trumbull  Street ;  on  the  west  side  of  Front  Street ;  and  on  the  north 
side  of  Arch  Street.  There  were  some  scattering  houses  on  other 
streets.  The  first  habitations  were  mere  cellars,  and  were  sometimes 
so  called  in  deeds  of  conveyance.  The  cellars  were  lined  with  logs 
set  perpendicularly,  rising  four  or  five  feet  above  ground,  and  well 
banked  up  outside.  The  roofs  were  log-covered  and  thatched,  or 
overlaid  with  turf  and  the  boughs  of  trees. 

The  Little  meadow,  lying  between  Front  Street  and  the  River,  was 
very  early  divided  up  (but  not  fenced),  to  provide  mowing-lots  for  the 
householders.  Here,  and  in  the  present  East  Hartford  meadows,  lots 
were  parcelled  out  before  1640.  Some  of  the  South  meadow,  around 
the  Dutchmen's  land,  and  the  Indians'  land,  was  parcelled  in  a  similar 
manner ;  likewise  a  part  of  the  North  meadow.  Within  the  latter  was 
the  "  Soldiers'  field ; "  a  tract  of  twenty-eight  acres,  the  lots  wherein 
mostly  contained  one  rood  each.  These  had  been  distributed  to  Hart- 
ford soldiers  of  the  Pequot  war  of  1637,  before  the  commencement  of 
any  records  now  in  existence. 

Large  sections  of  "  upland  "  were  laid  out  prior  to  1640,  the  "West 
field,  probably,  being  the  earliest.  It  was  a  region  now  traversed  by 
Ann  and  High  streets.  Lots  in  these  "  fields,"  as  well  as  in  the 
meadows,  were  generally  granted  singly,  and  not  in  a  general  allot- 
ment.     When   an   allotment   was   made,  whether   by    dividing  up  a 


SETTLEMENT   OF   THE   TOWN.  225 

field,  a  "  stated  common,"  or  from  the  "  common  and  undivided  lands  " 
(wilderness),  there  was  a  drawing  by  lot,  or  numbers;  the  sharers 
being  usually  original  Proprietors,  or  their  heirs  or  assigns.  A  field 
contained  one,  or  (more  usually)  two,  "  tiers ;  "  and  each  tier  was  di- 
vided into  "  lots."  Sometimes  allotments  were  made  to  the  "  legal  in- 
habitants," the  Proprietors  assenting  to  the  arrangement.  It  was 
probably  by  allotment  that  Pine  field  (between  Asylum  and  Albany 
avenues)  was  divided  in  severalty.  So  with  Bridge  field  (west  of 
Wood's  River)  ;  Great  Swamp  (between  Wethersfield  road  and  the 
ridge  of  Rocky  Hill)  ;  South  field  (southwest  of  the  Ox  pasture)  ;  Rocky 
Hill,  and  the  sections  west  of  it.  Certainly  the  great  West  Division 
(now  West  Hartford),  being  a  tier  of  lots  each  one  and  a  half  miles 
long,  —  the  tier  extending  from  Windsor  to  Wethersfield,  and  being 
bounded  west  by  Farmington,  —  was  divided  by  allotment  to  Proprie- 
tors in  1673.  And  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  an  allotment  was  made 
to  Proprietors  in  June,  1666,  of  the  whole  tract  between  the  present 
Main  Street  of  East  Hartford  and  the  original  east  line  of  Hartford. 
It  had  been  ordered  laid  out  as  early  as  Feb.  11,  1640-1.  It  made 
but  one  tier,  stretching  from  "  Potuncke  river  to  Pewter  Pot  river ; " 
that  is,  from  Windsor  to  Wethersfield ;  and  the  lots  were  each  about 
three  miles  long. 

Stated  commons,  though  belonging  to  the  Proprietors,  were  cared 
for  and  controlled  by  the  town.  The  latter  appointed  herders  and 
"  cow-keepers  "  for  the  cattle  depastured  therein,  and  shepherds  for  the 
sheep.  The  swine,  of  which  great  numbers  were  raised,  were  turned 
loose  in  the  wilderness.  The  Old  Ox  pasture,  the  Ox  pasture,  and 
the  Cow  pasture  were  laid  out  before  1640.  Their  positions  are 
shown  on  Porter's  map  of  Hartford  in  1640,  a  reduced  copy  of  which 
is  given  in  the  next  section.  Other  commons,  as  the  Little  Ox  pasture, 
Middle  Ox  pasture,  etc.,  appear  to  have  been  divided  up  in  severalty 
prior  to  1640.  The  largest  one  of  all  was  established  in  Proprietors' 
meeting,  in  January,  1672-3.  It  lay  between  the  West  Division  and 
the  Prospect  Hill  range ;  extending  from  Windsor  on  the  north  to 
Wethersfield  on  the  south.  It  was  a  common  of  pasturage  and  of 
shack ;  and  from  its  importance  it  took  the  name  of  The  Commons. 
The  southern  part  of  this  vast  tract  is  largely  uncultivated,  and  is  still 
called  the  Common. 

Sunckquasson  being  dead  (he  was  still  living  in  1657),  and  his  deed 
of  Hartford  having  been  lost,  his  "  successors,"  on  the  5th  of  July,  1670, 
made  a  confirmatory  deed  of  the  land  west  of  the  river  to  "  Mr.  Samuel 
Willys,  Captain  John  Tallcott,  Mr.  James  Richards,  and  Mr.  John 
Allyn,  in  behalfe  of  themselves  and  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
towne  of  Hartford  who  are  stated  proprietors  in  the  undivided  lands." 

In  January,  1686,  the  General  Court,  seemingly  to  head  off  any 
sequestration  of  colonial  lands  by  Sir  Edmond  Andros,  donated  such 
territory  as  was  not  included  in  any  township  to  certain  of  the  towns. 
To  Hartford  and  Windsor  were  given  the  lands  "  on  the  north  of  Wood- 
bury and  Matatock  [Waterbury],  and  on  the  west  of  Farmington  and 
Simsbury,  to  the  Massachusetts  line  north,  and  to  run  west  to  Housa- 
tunnuck  River  ...  to  make  a  plantation  or  villages  thereon."  It  was 
not  till  1707  that  Hartford  considered  the  cession  valid  or  important 
enough  to  warrant  the  expense  of  a  survey  of  this  tract.     Litchfield 

VOL.  i.  — 15. 


226  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

was  laid  out  in  1717,  and  Hartford  and  Windsor  disposed  of  their  in- 
terest in  it  to  settlers.  In  1723  the  General  Assembly  began  to  take 
measures  to  recover  possession  of  these  "  Western  Lands."  A  contest 
between  it  on  the  one  hand,  and  Hartford  and  Windsor  on  the  other, 
was  carried  on  until  1726,  when  a  compromise  was  effected,  whereby 
the  colony  received  the  territory  comprising  the  present  townships  of 
Canaan,  North  Canaan,  Norfolk,  Cornwall,  Goshen,  Warren,  and  about 
two  thirds  of  Kent ;  while  Hartford  and  Windsor  received  that  now 
comprising  Litchfield,  Colebrook,  Hartland,  Winchester,  Barkhamsted, 
Torrington,  New  Hartford,  and  Harwinton.  In  1729  the  colony  issued 
a  patent  for  one-half  of  this  tract  to  Hartford,  and  for  the  other  half 
to  Windsor.  In  1732  Hartford  and  Windsor  made  a  partition  of  their 
joint  property ;  Hartford  taking  Hartland,  Winchester,  New  Hartford, 
and  the  east  half  of  Harwinton  ;  and  Windsor  taking  the  residue.  The 
Proprietors  (and  not  the  towns)  of  Hartford  and  Windsor  became  the 
possessors  of  the  great  tracts  of  land,  mostly  wild,  which  had  been  thus 
divided. 

Lands  in  Hartford,  like  those  in  England,  were  held  subject  to  the 
"  paramount  title  "  of  the  Crown  of  England.  In  the  colonial  charter 
this  title  was  recognized,  as  also  in  the  patents  granted  by  the  colony 
to  the  several  towns  in  1685  and  subsequently.  Thus  the  title  was 
feudal ;  that  is,  dependent  upon  fealty  to  the  Crown.  The  tenure  was 
not  a  base  one,  but,  as  expressly  stated,  was  by  "  free  and  common 
socage,"  and  not  by  "  Knight's  service."  The  change  from  a  feudal  to 
the  allodial  system  was  practically  effected  when  we  became  indepen- 
dent of  Great  Britain  ;  but  it  was  not  until  1793  that  the  allodial 
character  was  declared  by  statute. 

The  number  of  freemen  in  Hartford  in  1669  was  118 ;  whereof  51 
were  north  of  the  Little  River,  and  67  south.  The  freeman  of  that  day 
was  not  like  the  freeman  of  to-day.  He  would  be  called  an  elector 
now.  There  were  at  the  same  time  126  freemen  in  Windsor,  and  58 
in  Wethersfield.  In  1676,  the  number  of  "  persons  "  (that  is,  males 
above  the  age  of  sixteen  years)  in  Hartford  was  241;  Windsor  and 
Wethersfield  had  204  and  141  respectively. 

Note.  —  The  writer  has  made  much  use  of  private  memoranda  loaned  to  him  by  the 
Hon.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull.  Other  authorities  consulted  are  :  The  town  and  land  Records  of 
Hartford  ;  Trumbull's  Col.  Records  of  Conn.  ;  Col.  Records  of  Mass.  Bay  ;  Winthrop's  Hist, 
of  New  England  ;  Bradford's  Hist,  of  Plymouth  People  ;  O'Callaghan's  and  Brodhead's  Trans- 
lations of  Dutch  Documents  ;  Porter's  Hist.  Notices  of  Conn.  ;  Stuart's  Hartford  in  the  Olden 
Time  ;  Goodwin's  East  Hartford,  etc. 


s$AA(UaW) 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROPRIETORS.  227 


SECTION  II. 
THE  ORIGINAL  PROPRIETORS. 

BY   MISS   MARY    K.    TALCOTT. 

The  first  part  of  this  section  comprises  an  account  of  those  settlers 
who  came  to  Hartford  before  February,  1640.  The  second  part  gives 
the  record  of  those  who  came  between  1670  and  1700,  and  is  neces- 
sarily more  brief.  The  section  is  based  on  materials  collected  by  Dr. 
J.  Hammond  Trumbull.  The  abbreviations  will  be  easily  understood  : 
b.  for  born,  m.  for  married,  ch.  for  children,  d.  for  died.  The  accom- 
panying map  shows  the  locations  of  the  different  home-lots,  and  was 
drawn  by  the  late  William  S.  Porter,  after  careful  study  of  the  Book  of 
Distributions  and  the  town  votes. 

Jeremy  Adams  was  at  Braintree,  perhaps,  1632,  removed  soon  to  Cambridge ; 
freeman  there,  May  6,  1G35  ;  came  to  Hartford  in  1636,  where  he  was  an 
original  proprietor;  his  home-lot  in  1639  was  on  the  highway  now  Elm  Street ; 
constable  in  1639;  he  married  about  that  time  Eebecca,  widow  of  Samuel 
Greenhill,  it  is  supposed  as  a  second  wife,  and  in  the  Distribution,  p.  217,  he 
is  described  as  in  possession  of  the  house-lot  and  lands  of  Greenhill,  until 
the  two  children  come  of  age  (date  not  given).  He  was  licensed  for  exclusive 
right  to  retail  liquors,  May,  1660;  to  keep  ordinary,  March,  1661-2  ;  this 
tavern  was  on  the  site  of  the  present  Universalist  Church ;  he  bought  the  lot 
of  John  Morrice,  and  mortgaged  it  to  the  Colony  Jan.  26,  1660  ;  his  affairs 
had  evidently  been  in  an  embarrassed  condition  for  some  time,  and  the 
mortgage  was  foreclosed  Jan.  14,  1680-1.  He  was  appointed  custom- 
master,  May,  1663;  freed  from  watching  and  warding,  at  the  age  of  60, 
March  2,  1664-5;  townsman,  1671.  His  wife,  Eebecca,  died  in  1678, 
and  he  married  Eebecca,  widow  of  Andrew  Warner,  Jr.,  and  daughter  of  John 
Fletcher.  He  died  Aug.  11,  1683.  Inventory,  £243.  5.  6.  He  mentions  in 
his  will  his  grandson,  Zachary  Sandford,  children  of  son  John  Adams,  and 
children  of  son  Willett.  His  widow  survived  him  (although  not  mentioned 
in  his  will)  and  died  in  Middletown,  Jan.  25,  1715,  aged  77.  —  Children: 
i.  Ann,  married  Robert  Sandford,  of  Hartford  (q.  v.).  Her  son  Zachary 
redeemed  his  grandfather's  property  in  1685,  and  kept  an  ordinary  in  the 
same  place  for  many  years.  ii.  Hannah,  m.  Nathaniel  Willett,  of  Hartford 
(q.  v.).  iii.  John,  m.  ;  d.  1670;  inv.  Sept.  6,  1670.  iv.  Samuel,  baptized 
"Nov.  23,  1645  ;  prob.  died  young,     v.  Hester,     vi.  Sarah. 

Matthew  Allyx,1  Cambridge,  1632;  he  came  from  Brampton,  Co.  Devon ;  free- 
man, Mass.,  March  4,  1635;  representative  at  March  General  Court,  1636; 
removed  probably  next  year  to  Hartford,  where  he  was  an  original  proprie- 
tor ;  his  house-lot  was  on  the  road  to  the  Neck,  now  Windsor  St.,  and  he 
owned  110  acres  in  that  and  other  lots.  He  was  excommunicated  by  the 
church  in  Hartford,  and  June  3,  1644,  he  appealed  to  the  General  Court 

1  Lechford's  Note-Book,  p.  416  :  "  Matthew  Allen  of  Hartford  upon  the  river  of  Conecti- 
cot  merchant,  otherwise  called  Mathenim  Allen,  nup.  de  Bramton  in  Com.  Devon,  infra 
Eegni  Anglie  summoned  to  answer  Thomas  Harwood  &  James  Galium  of  Barnstable,  Co. 
Devon  ;  his  brothers,  Thomas  Allen  of  Barnstable  in  N.  E.  &  Richard  Allen,  yeoman,  of 
Brampton,  are  mentioned  also."  —  p.  418. 


228  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

for  redress ;  the  records  do  not  show  how  the  affair  was  settled,  hut  it  may 
have  been  one  cause  of  his  removal  to  Windsor.  Nevertheless  few  men  in 
the  Colony  had  more  influence,  or  received  more  honors  from  the  people 
than  Mr.  Allyn.     He  was  Deputy  from  Windsor,  1648  to  1657;  Assistant, 

1658  to  1667;  commissioner  for  the  United  Colonies,  1660  and  1664; 
frequently  appointed  upon  important  committees  by  the  General  Court. 
He  d.  Feb.  1,  1670-1  ;  his  wife,  Margaret,  was  the  sole  executrix  of  his  will, 
dated  Jan.  30,  1670-1.  Inv.  £466.  18.  —  Ch.  :  i.  John,  m.  (1)  Nov. 
19,  1651,  Ann,  dau.  of  Henry  Smith,  of  Springfield,  and  gr.-dau.  of 
William  Pynchon ;  his  father  gave  him  his  lands  in  Hartford,  Jan.  3, 
1653,  for  a  marriage  portion;  townsman,  1655;  was  chosen  cornet  of  the 
troop,  March,  1657-8;  town  clerk  of  Hartford,  1659-1696;  deputy, 
1661;  magistrate,  1662  and  many  following  sessions;  Secretary  of  the  Col- 
ony, 1663-1665;  again  elected  1667,  and  held  the  office  until  1695  ;  he  was 
chosen,  with  Samuel  Wyllys  and  John  Talcott,  by  the  freemen  of  the  Colony, 
Oct.  9,  1662,  to  take  the  Charter  into  their  custody  for  safe-keeping.  He 
m.  (2)  after  1675,  Hannah,  widow  of  Samuel  Welles,  of  Hartford,  and  dau. 
of  George  Lamberton,  of  New  Haven.  He  d.  Nov.  11,  1696,  according  to 
Town  Record.  "  Here  lyes  interred  the  body  of  the  Honourable  Lt.  Col. 
John  Allyn,  who  served  His  Generation  in  the  Capacity  of  a  Magistrate, 
Secretary  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  34  years,  who  dyed  Nov.  6,  in  the 
year  1696."  1  "The  ancient  records  of  the  Colony  and  Town  furnish  ample 
evidence  of  his  intelligence  and  industry." 2  ii.  Capt.  Thomas,  settled  in 
Windsor,  where  his  father  gave  him  land  and  a  house,  at  the  time  of  his 
marriage,  Oct.  21,  1658,  to  Abigail,  dau.  of  Eev.  John  Warham  ;  d.  Feb. 
14,  1695-6.  iii.  Mary,  in.  June  11,  1646,  Capt.  Benjamin  Newberry,  of 
Windsor;   d.  Dec.  14,  1703. 

Francis  Andrews  purchased,  before  1640,  the  north  part  of  Richard  Butler's  lot 
on  the  corner  of  the  present  Elm  and  Trinity  streets.  He  removed  to  Fair- 
field, and  died  there,  1662  or  1663 ;  will  dated  June  6,  1662  ;  proved  March 
5,  1663. 

William  Andrews,  freeman,  Mass.,  March  4,  1634-5  ;  constable,  Newtown, 
October,  1636;  an  original  proprietor  of  Hartford,  received  thirty  acres  in 
the  division  of  1639-40,  and  his  home-lot  was  south  of  the  Little  River, 
on  land  now  included  in  the  West  Park.  He  was  the  first  schoolmaster, 
teaching    from    1643  until   1656;   town    clerk,    1651-1658.      He    died    in 

1659  ;  will  dated  April  1  ;  inv.  Aug.  8,  1659,  £211.  14.  11.  His  wife,  Mary, 
d.  at  Cambridge,  Jan.  19,  1639-40.  He  m.  a  second  wife,  Abigail,  men- 
tioned in  his  will,  and  he  also  names  "bro.  George  Grave."  His  widow  m. 
Nathaniel  Bearding.  —  Ch.  :  i.  Abigail,  d.  in  Fairfield,  May,  1653.  ii.  John, 
Hartford;  m.  Mary;  d.  June  8,  1690.  iii.  Thomas,  of  Middletown,  m.  Abi- 
gail, dau.  of  John  Kirby,  of  Middletown;  d.  1691.  iv.  Esther,3  or  Hester; 
m.  Thomas  Spencer,  Jr.,  of  Suffield ;  d.  March  6,  1698.  v.  Elizabeth,  m. 
May  3, 1655,  Edward  Granniss,  of  Hartford,  vi.  Samuel,4  born  Oct.  20,  1645  ; 
m.  Elizabeth,  dau.  of  Sergeant  Thomas  Spencer;  d.  in  Hartford,  January,  1712. 

John  Arnold,  freeman,  Cambridge,  May  6, 1635  ;  an  original  proprietor  of  Hart- 
ford, received  sixteen  acres  in  the  division  of  1639-40,  when  a  lot  was  given 
him    on    the    south    side   of  the   road  leading  froni  George  Steele's  to  the 

1  Tombstone  in  old  burying-ground. 

2  Hinman,  p.  36. 

3  Hester  was  a  daughter  of  second  wife,  Abigail,  as  she  left  her  property  to  her  daughter, 
Hester  Spencer  ;  and  Samuel  Andrews,  who  married  Hester's  daughter,  calls  Abigail  "  Grand- 
mother" in  deposition  relating  to  her  disposal  of  her  property. — Hartford  Probate  Records, 
vol.  iv.  p.  118. 

4  Savage  says  (vol.  i.  p  55)  he  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thwait  Strickland  ;  but  see 
General  Register,  vol.  xxxiii.  p.  356,  for  the  reasons  for  thinking  that  that  Elizabeth  Strick- 
land married  John  Andrews,  Jr.,  son  of  John,  born  1645. 


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THE  ORIGINAL  PROPRIETORS.  229 

south  meadow.  He  died  Dec,  1664;  inv.  Dec.  26,  1664,  £105.  10.  His 
widow,  Susannah,  was  one  of  the  original  rnenihers  of  the  South  Church. 
—  Ch.  :  i.  Josiah,  Hartford,  freeman,  1657.  ii.  Joseph,  freeman,  1658;  one 
of  the  first  settlers  of  Haddam  ;  m.  Elizabeth,  dau.  of  Samuel  Wakeman,  of 
Hartford  ;  d.  Oct,  22,  1691.  iii.  John.  iv.  Daniel,  freeman,  1665  ;  d.  May  10, 
1691,  leaving  wife  and  ch.     v.  Dau.  m.  Buck.     vi.   Dau. 

Andrew  Bacon  was  an  original  proprietor  of  Hartford,  and  in  the  distribution 
of  1639-40,  received  a  lot  on  the  east  side  of  Main  St.,  immediately  south  of 
the  Little  River.  He  was  chosen  townsman,  1641,  1658,  deputy,  1642- 
1656.  In  1642  he,  with  Captain  John  Mason  and  Mr.  Clark,  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  General  Court  to  prepare  carriages  for  the  pieces  (guns)  that 
came  from  Piscataqua.  In  1643  he,  with  Mr.  Talcott,  was  appointed  to  take 
a  record  of  the  debts  of  the  country.  He  was  also  a  committee,  with  Mr. 
Webster,  for  Hartford,  to  join  the  magistrates  in  pressing  men  in  each  town 
for  service,  in  1654.  He  was  exempted  from  training,  watching,  and  ward- 
ing, May,  1656.  He  was  a  committee,  with  Mr.  Steele  and  Mr.  Boosy,  "to 
provide  at  Hartford  for  the  comely  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
United  Colonies."  In  1658  a  complaint  was  preferred  in  the  General  Court 
against  him,  Gov.  "Webster,  and  others,  who  were  about  to  withdraw  from  the 
church,  and  from  Hartford.  He  signed  the  contract  to  remove  to  Hadley,  in 
1659  ;  freeman,  Mass.,  March  26,  1661.  He  m.  in  1661,  Elizabeth,  widow  of 
Timothy  Stanley,  of  Hartford ;  prob.  a  2d  wife.  He  d.  in  Hadley,  ( )<t,  4, 
1664,  s.  p.  His  widow  returned  to  Hartford  to  live  with  her  son,  Caleb 
^      Stanley;  d.  Feb.  23,  1679,  aged  about  seventy-six.1 

John  Barnard,  maltster,  came,  probably  in  the  "Francis,"  from  Ipswich,  1634, 
with  wife,  Mary,  aged  thirty-eight  ;  was  perhaps  the  freeman  of  March  4, 
1635  ;  removed,  1636,  from  Cambridge  to  Hartford,  where  he  was  an  original 
proprietor;  he  had  twenty-four  acres  in  the  land  division  of  1639-1640, 
and  his  home-kit  was  on  the  south  side  of  the  highway,  now  Elm  St. 
Chosen  deputy,  1642-3;  townsman,  1644,  1649,  1653,  1657.  Exempted  by 
the  General  Court  from  watching  and  warding,  May,  1656.  He  was  one  of  the 
"  withdrawers,"  and  removed  to  Hadley,  1659.  He  was  buried  there  May  23, 
1664,  leaving  a  widow.  Mary,  but  no  children.  The  widow  d.  Feb.  or  March, 
1664-5.  John  Barnard  mentions  in  his  will  his  kinsman,  Francis  Barnard, 
as  executor,  Morgan  and  Thomas  Bedient,  ch.  of  his  sister,  Mary,  living  in 
Old  England,  and  the  ch,  of  his  kinsman,  Henry  Hayward,  of  Wethersfield. 
His  widow  left  much  of  her  property  to  her  bros.,  Daniel  and  William  Stacy, 
of  Burnham,  near  Maldon,  Co.  Essex. 

Tuomas  Barnes,  Hartford,  1639,  a  "proprietor  by  the  town's  courtesy,"  Feb., 
1639-40,  having  six  acres  allotted  to  him.  He  lived  on  the  corner  of  the 
highways  now  Albany  Avenue  and  High  St.  He  served  in  the  Pequot 
War,  1637  ;  granted  fifty  acres  for  his  services,  1671.  He  removed  to  Farrn- 
ington ;  sergeant  of  the  trainband  there,  1651;  joined  Farmington  church 
about  Jan.  30,  1652-3.  His  wife,  Mary,  was  the  dau.  of  Thomas  Andrus,  or 
Andrews,  of  Farmington.     He  d.  about  1689  ;  will  dated  June  9,  1688. 

Robert  Bartlett,  Cambridge,  1632,  if,  as  probable,  he  came  in  the  "Lion,"1 
Sept.  16  of  that  year.  He  was  an  original  proprietor  of  Hartford,  receiving 
eight  acres  in  the  division  of  1639-40.  He  lived  on  the  west  side  of  a 
highway,  west  of  what  is  now  Lafayette  St.;  freeman,  April  10,  1645; 
chimney-viewer,  1650  ;  removed  to  Northampton  about  1655  ;  killed  by  the 
Indians  March  14,  1675-6. 

John  Baysey,  weaver  (autograph  on  will,  Baisie),  was  an  original  proprietor ; 
his  house-lot  was  on  the  south  side  of  the  road  from  the  mill  to  the  south 
meadow,  now  Elm  St.      He  was  chosen   chimney- viewer,   1649;  surveyor 

1  Gravestone  in  old  burying-ground. 


230  MEMORIAL  HTSTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

of  highways,  1652;  constable,  1656;  fence-viewer,  1667;  townsman,  1669; 
d.  August,  1671  ;  will  dated  Aug.  14  ;  inv.  Aug.  29,  £383.  2.  6.  His  widow, 
Elizabeth,  d.  in  1673;  inv.  Dec.  13.  —  Ch.  :  i.  Mary,  m.  Samuel  Burr,  of 
Hartford  (q.  v.).  ii.  Lydia,  m.  John  Baker  (q.  v.),  who  lived  on  the  highway 
afterw.  called  Baker's  Lane,  in  Hartford;  she  d.  May  16,  1700.  iii.  Elizabeth, 
bapt.  in  Hartford,  Aug.  23,  1645  ;  m.  Paul  Peck,  Jr.,  of  Hartford  (q.  v.).  The 
name  Baysey  was  handed  down  to  the  present  century  as  a  Christian  name  in 
the  Burr  and  Baker  families,  and  the  Welles  family  of  West  Hartford. 

Thomas  Beale,  Cambridge,  1634  ;  freeman,  Mass.,  Dec.  8,  1636.  Had  an 
allotment  of  lands,  but  did  not  remove  to  Hartford,  and  the  lands  sequestered 
for  him  had  been  given  to  John  Marsh  before  Feb.,  1639-40.  He  d.  at 
Cambridge,  Sept.  7,  1661  ;  wife,  Sarah,  but  prob.  no  ch. 

Nathaniel  Bearding  (Bardon)  was  in  Hartford  in  1636,  but  not  an  original 
proprietor,  having  land  only  "  by  the  courtesie  of  the  town."  His  honiedot  in 
1640  was  on  the  brow  of  the  hill,  now  called  Asylum  Hill,  comprising  six  acres. 
He  was  chosen  townsman,  1658;  surveyor  of  highways,  1666.  The  name  of 
his  first  wife  is  unknown,  but  he  m.  (2)  Abigail,  widow  of  William  Andrews, 
of  Hartford  (q.  v.)  ;  d.  in  Sept.,  1674;  will  dated  Jan.  7,  1674  ;  inv.,  Sept. 
14,  £282.  His  widow,  Abigail,  d.  March  20,  1682-3.  Inv.  £19. 10.  —  Ch.  : 
by  first  wife  —  Sarah,  m.  Sept.  11,  1645,  Sergeant  Thomas  Spencer,  of  Hart- 
ford, as  his  second  wife. 

Mary  Betts,  widow,  "  the  School  Dame."  She  owned  land  "  by  the  courtesie 
of  the  town,"  and  received  four  acres  in  the  division  of  1639-40  ;  her  home- 
lot  was  on  the  highway,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Little  River,  near  what  is 
now  the  corner  of  Trumbull  and  Wells  streets.    She  d.  in  1647.  —  Ch.  :    1. 

John,  Wethersfield,  1648  ;  m.  Abigail ;  she  was  tried  for  blasphemy,  in 

1662 ;  he  was  divorced  from  her,  Oct.,  1672,  and  went  to  Huntington,  L.  I. 

John  Bidwell  was  a  proprietor  "by  the  courtesie  of  the  town"  in  1640,  when 
his  hcme-lot  was  south  of  Seth  Grant's  home-lot,  and  on  the  east  side  of  the 
road  from  Seth  Grant's  to  the  Mill.  He  also  owned  a  tan-yard  on  an  island 
in  Little  River,  receiving  four  acres  in  all.  He  m.  Sarah,  dau.  of  John  Wil- 
cocks,  of  Hartford.  Chosen  chimney- viewer,  1655,  1661  ;  freed  from  watch- 
ing, warding,  and  training,  Nov.  9,  1670.  He  and  his  wife,  Sarah,  were 
original  members  of  the  Second,  or  South  Church,  Feb.  12,  1670.  He  d.  in 
1687;  inv.,  June  4,  £419.  10.  6.  — Ch.  :  1.  John,  Hartford  ;  m.  Nov.  7, 
1678,  Sarah,  dau.  of  Thomas  and  Hannah  (Tuttle)  [Pantry]  Welles,  of  H.  ; 
admitted  to  the  South  Church,  Feb.  21,  1685.  He  owned  six  saw  and  grist 
mills,  —  three  at  Hartford,  one  each  at  East  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Mid- 
dletown  ;  d.  July  3,  1692.  Inv.  £1081.  ii.  Joseph,  Wethersfield,  east  side  of 
the  river;  m.,  May  18, 1675,  Mary  Colefax,  dau.  of  Wm.  ;  adm.  to  the  South 
Ch.,  Hfd.,  Feb.  1672  ;  had  a  saw-mill  in  Glastonbury  ;  d.  in  1692.  iii.  Sam- 
uel, b.  1650  ;  Middletown;  m.  (1)  Nov.  14,  1672,  Elizabeth,  dau.  of  Thomas 
Stow,  of  Middletown  ;  (2)  Sarah,  dau.  of  Capt.  Daniel  Harris  ;   (3)  Abigail 

;  he  d.  April  5,  1715.     iv.  Sarah,  m.  William  House,  of  Hartford  ;  adm. 

to  the  South  Church,  March  31,  1678.    v.  Hannah,  m. Waddams.    (John 

Waddams,  of  Wethersfield?)    vi.  Mary,  m.  Lieut.  John  Makin  (Mealuns),  of 

East  Hartford,     vii.  Daniel,  b.  1655;  m.  (1)  Elizabeth ;    (2)  Dorothy 

;  lived  in  East  Hartford,  where  he  was  firsts  constable,  1699,  and  held 

other  offices;  d.  Nov.  29,  1719. 

Richard  Billing,  one  of  those  to  whom  a  lot  was  granted  in  1639-40,  "if  the 
Townsmen  see  no  just  cause  to  the  contrary  ;"  chimney-viewer,  1654,  1658; 
removed,  1661,  to  Hadley,  where  he  d.  March  13, 1679  ;  his  widow,  Margery, 
d.  Dec.  5,  1679.  —  Ch. :  Samuel,  Hatfield  ;  m.  Sarah,  dau.  of  Richard  Fellows. 

Thomas  Birchwood  (Birchard)  embarked  for  New  England  in  the  "  True- 
love,"  London,  Sept.  20,  1635,  with  wife  Mary,  aged  38,  and  six  ch. ; 
freeman  at  Roxbury,  May  17,  1637.     An  original  proprietor  at  Hartford,  and 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROPRIETORS.  231 

his  home-lot,  in  1640,  lay  on  the  west  side  of  the  road  from  Seth  Grant's  to 
Centinel  Hill  (Trumbull  St.).  He  remained  but  a  few  years  in  Hartford,  and 
his  homedot  was  sold  to  Isaac  Graves  before  1652.  Removed  to  Saybrook; 
deputy  from  there,  1651  ;  d.  1684. 

Peter  Blachford  (Blatchford,  Blackfield)  was  prob.  at  Hartford  in  1639  ; 
for  he  had  served  in  the  Pequot  War,  and  his  heirs  received  a  grant  from  the 
General  Court,  Oct.  12,  1671,  of  fifty  acres  for  pay  as  a  Pequot  soldier;  free- 
man, May,  1658;  prob.  removed  to  New  London  before  that  time;  removed 
to  Haddam  about  1669;  deputy  from  Haddam  1669-70.  He  m.  Hannah, 
widow  of  Thomas  Hungerford,  and  dau.  of  Isaac  Willey,  of  New  London ; 
d.  in  Haddam,  Sept.  1,  1671. 

Tiiomas  Blackley  (Blatchley,  Blacksley)  embarked  for  New  England  in  the 
"  Hopewell,"  July  28,  1635,  a3.  20  ;  was  granted  a  lot  in  Hartford  conditionally, 
Jan.  7,  1639-40  ;  removed  to  New  Haven,  1643  ;  was  at  Branford  in  1645  ; 
signed  the  "  fundamental  agreement "  of  the  settlers  of  Newark,  in  Oct.,  1666, 
but  remained  in  Connecticut ;  in  his  latter  days  he  was  at  Guilford,  and  d.  in 
Boston,  prob.  on  a  trading  visit,  about  1674.  His  widow,  Susanna,  after- 
wards m.  Richard  Bristow,  of  Guilford. 

Thomas  Bliss,  St.,  was  born  (according  to  the  Bliss  Genealogy)  in  Okehampton, 
in  the  village  of  Belstone,  Co.  Devon,  son  of  Thomas  Bliss,  of  Belstone.  He 
settled  first  at  the  "  Mount,"  afterward  Braintree,  now  Quincy ;  rem.  to  Hart- 
ford, where  he  was  one  of  the  proprietors  "by  courtesie  of  the  town"  in 
1639-40  ;  his  housedot  was  on  a  highway  west  of  the  present  Lafayette  Street, 
and  he  possessed  fifty-eight  acres.  He  d.  in  1650  ;  inv.  Feb.  14,  1650,  £86. 
12.  8.  His  widow,  Margaret,  removed  to  Springfield  after  a  time  with  the 
larger  part  of  her  family  ;  d.  there  Aug.  28,  1684. 

Thomas  Bliss,  Jr.,  came  with  his  father  to  Hartford,  and  was  allotted  a  piece  of 
land  south  of  and  adjoining  his  father's  lot.     He  removed  to  Saybrook,  where 

he  m.,  Oct.,  1644,  Elizabeth ;  from  thence  he  removed  to  Norwich,  about 

1660;  freeman  at  Norwich,  1663  ;  d.  there  April  15,  1688. 

William  Blumfield  prob.  came  in  the  "  Elizabeth  "  from  Ipswich,  in  Suffolk, 
in  1634,  aged  30,  with  wife,  Sarah,  aged  25,  and  dau.  Sarah,  aged  1  ;  free- 
man, Mass.,  Sept.  2,  1635.  He  fought  in  the  Pequot  War,  1637.  An  origi- 
nal proprietor  at  H.,  and  his  house-lot  in  1639-40  was  on  a  portion  of  Avhat 
is  now  Bushnell  Park;  in  1641  he  was  given  "the  ground  whereon  the 
pound  standeth,  and  to  be  made  up  of  ground  about  it  fower  acres  "  over  and 
above  his  share  in  the  division.  (In  the  map  of  1640  the  pound  is  on  Cen- 
tinel Hill.)  He  was  freed  from  training,  March  11,  1657-8.  He  removed 
prob.  ab.  1650  to  New  London,  and  in  1663  to  Newtown,  L.  I. 

James  Bridgemax,  a  landholder  in  Hartford  in  1640,  but  not  an  original  propri- 
etor;  removed  to  Springfield  in  1645,  and  to  Northampton  in  1654.  His 
wife,  Martha,  d.  Aug.  31,  1668  ;  he  d.  March,  1676. 

John  Broxsox  (Browxsox,  Bruxsox),  Hartford,  1639,  a  proprietor  "  by  cour- 
tesie of  the  town  ;"  his  house-lot  was  on  the  road  to  the  Neck,  now  Windsor 
St.  He  served  in  the  Pequot  War.  He  removed  to  Tunxis  about  1641  ; 
deputy  from  Farmington,  May,  1651 ;  one  of  the  original  members  of  the 
Farmington  church,  Oct.  13,  1652  ;  d.  1680;  inv.  Nov.  28,  £312.  1.  6. 

Richard  Broxsox,  supposed  to  have  been  at  Hartford,  with  his  brother,  John, 
removed  to  Farmington,  1653;  joined  the  church  there,  1654;  d.  1687. 
Inv.,  Sept.,  1687,  £405.  8.  His  first  wife  was  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  William 
Pantry,  of  Hartford,  who  mentions  in  her  will,  Sept  12,  1651,  "two  children 
of  Richard  Branson,  that  he  had  by  my  sister,  John  and  Abigail ; "  his  wife 
when  he  died  was  Elizabeth,  widow  of  George  Orvis,  of  Farmington,  and  before 
him,  of  David  Carpenter.     She  d.  in  1694. 

Capt.  Thomas  Bull,  born  ab.  1605,  according  to  his  testimony,  April,  1681,  that 
he  was  then  aged  ab.  75  ;  he  was  first  at  Boston  or  Cambridge ;  accompanied 


232  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

Hooker  to  Hartford  in  1636  ;  served  in  the  Pequot  War,  1637.  He  became 
familiar  with  the  Indian  habits  and  language,  and  was  therefore  peculiarly  use- 
ful to  the  early  settlers.  He  was  an  original  proprietor,  and  in  1640  his  home- 
lot  was  on  the  south  side  of  the  road  from  George  Steele's  to  the  South  Meadow, 
his  lot  being  bounded  1ST.  by  that  road,  E.  by  Richard  Lyman's  land,  S.  by 
Stephen  Post,  W.  by  Philip  Davis,  or  Ward's  lot.  He  was  master  of  a 
vessel  at  Curagoa,  1647-8;  juror,  Hfd.,  1648-9;  Winthrop  calls  him  "a 
godly  and  discreet  man."  He  received,  with  others,  grants  of  land  from 
the  General  Court,  at  Nihantecutt,  in  1650,  and  in  March,  1651-2,  the  Court 
granted  to  him,  and  the  rest  of  the  five  soldiers  of  Capt.  Mason,  200  acres  of 
upland,  which  lay  northward,  and  adjoining  to  the  remainder  of  the  land  before 
laid  out  to  them.  He  was  appointed  Lieut,  of  a  company  raised  in  1653,  by 
order  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  to  fight  the  Dutch.  In 
May,  1662,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  Grand  Jurors  of  the  colony  ;  chosen 
List  and  Rate  Maker,  1668;  Townsman,  1663.  He  was  in  command  of  the 
fort  at  Saybrook,  when  Sir  Edmund  Andros  attempted  to  gain  the  place  for 
his  master,  the  Duke  of  York,  in  1675.  The  bravery  and  wisdom  which  he 
displayed  in  his  resistance  to  Andros  greatly  endeared  Capt.  Bull  to  the  people 
of  the  colony  as  a  gallant  and  intrepid  officer.  He  and  his  wife,  Susanna, 
were  original  members  of  the  South  Church,  Feb.  12,  1670.  His  wife  d. 
1680,  aged  70.  He  d.  1684  ;  will  dated  April  19  ;  inv.  Oct.  24,  £1,248.  11. 
—  Ch. :  i.  Thomas,  b.  1646,  m.  (1)  Aug.  29,  1669,  Esther,  dau.  of  John 
Cowles,  of  Farmington  ;  (2)  Jan.  13,  1692,  Mary,  or  Hannah,  Lewis;  deacon 
Farmington  ch. ;  d.  1708.  ii.  Jonathan,  bapt.  March  25,  1649;  in.  March 
19,  1684-5,  Sarah,  dau.  of  Rev.  John  Whiting,  of  Hfd. ;  was  a  brave  soldier 
in  the  French  and  Indian  wars.  Was  also  engaged  in  trade,  owning  a  num- 
ber of  vessels.  Capt.  of  the  troop  of  Hartford  County.  He  and  his  wife 
were  admitted  to  the  South  Ch.,  Feb.  3,  1694-5.  He  d.  Aug.  17,  1702. 
Major  Jonathan  had  a  son,  Dr.  Jonathan,  one  of  the  first  highly  educated 
physicians  in  Hartford,  and  his  son,  Judge  Jonathan,  was  a  distinguished 
lawyer,  and  held  many  responsible  offices  ;  d.  1783.  iii.  David,  bapt.  Feb.  9, 
1650-1;  settled  at  Saybrook;  m.  Dec.  27,  1677,  Hannah,  dau.  of  Robert 
Chapman,  of  Saybrook.  iv.  Joseph,  Hartford,  m.  (1)  April  11,  1671,  Sarah 
Manning,  of  Cambridge  ;  (2)  Hannah,  dau.  of  Michael  Humphreys,  of  Wind- 
sor;  d.  March  22,  1711-12.  His  widow  m.  (2)  Joseph  Collier.  His  grand- 
son, Caleb  Bull,  was  the  father  of  nine  sons,  who  lived  to  mature  age,  and 
were  all  prominent  citizens  of  Hartford.  These  sons  were  —  Caleb,  Samuel, 
William  ("Beau  Bill  "),  James,  a  prominent  merchant  here;  Frederick,  who 
also  kept  a  tavern  here;  Hezekiah,  removed  to  Ohio;  George,  a  merchant  ; 
Michael  a  merchant,  father  of  John  W.  Bull;  Thomas,  v.  Ruth,  m.  Oct.  15, 
1669,  Andrew  Bordman,  of  Cambridge,     vi.  Susanna,  m.  Thomas  Bunce,  Jr., 

of  Hartford,     vii.  Abigail,  m. Buck.     David  Bull,  grandson  of  Deacon 

Thomas,  of  Farmington,  was  the  landlord  of  the  famous  tavern  "  the  Bunch 
of  Grapes." 
Thomas  Bunce,  Hartford,  1639,  a  proprietor  "by  courtesie  of  the  town."  His 
home-lot  in  1639-40  was  near  the  site  of  the  present  Capitol.  He  served  in 
the  Pequot  War,  and  was  granted  60  acres  for  good  service,  in  1671,  and  50 
more  in  1672.  He  was  chosen  chimney-viewer^/1646 ;  constable,  1648; 
juror,  1649;  townsman,  1653,  1661,  1665;  rate  and  list  maker,  1669; 
chimney-viewer,  1670;  list-maker,  1671,  1672,  1673;  freed  from  training, 
etc.,  Sept.  1672,  being  then  60  years  of  age.  He  and  his  wife  Sarah 
were  original  members  of  the  South  Church,  Feb.  12,  1670.  He  d.  be- 
fore Aug.  1683;  appoints  "beloved  brethren,  Ensign  Nathaniel  Standly 
and  Steven  Hosmore"  overseers.  Inv.  July  and  Aug.,  1683,  £1,024.  He 
names  in  his  will  wife  Sarah,  "cousin  Elizabeth  White,"  and  "sister 
Katherine  Clark."     His  widow  d.  Jan.  1693-4.  — Ch.  :  1.  John,  Hartford; 


THE   ORIGINAL   PROPRIETORS.  233 

received  from  his  father  the  house,  barn,  and  home-lot,  wh.  he  purchased  of 
Thomas  Gridley,  besides  other  property  ;  he  was  admitted  to  the  South  Church 
in  1686,  with  his  wife,  Mary;  townsman,  1701,  1711,  1715;  d.  before  1734. 
ii.  Elizabeth,  m.  Jacob  White,  of  Hatfield,  iii.  Thomas,  m.  Susannah,  dau. 
of  Capt.  Thomas  Bull;  admitted  to  the  South  Church,  with  his  wife,  1677  ; 
townsman,  1679,  1680,  1684,  1689,  1693,  1698,  1703;  he  owned  a  large  es- 
tate in  land  in  Hartford,  on  Rocky  Hill,  Wethersfield,  etc.  Will  dated  April 
25,  1709  ;  proved  April  25,  1712.  iv.  Sarah,  m.  (1)  John  White,  Jr.,  of  Hat- 
field ;  (2)  ab.  1668,  Nicholas  Worthington,  of  Hatfield;  d.  June  20,  1676. 
v.  Mary,  b.  Sept.  17,  1645;  m.  (1)  Thomas  Meakins,  of  Hatfield,  who  was 
killed  by  the  Indians,  Oct.  19,  1675  ;  (2)  John  Downing,  of  Hatfield.  The 
late  Deacon  Russell  Bunce  and  his  sons,  John  L.  Bunce,  President  of  the 
Phoenix  Bank,  and  James  M.  Bunce,  were  descended  from  John  Bunce,  son 
of  Thomas. 

Benjamin  Burr  was  one  of  the  proprietors  "  by  courtesie  of  the  town,"  receiving 
six  acres  in  the  distribution  of  1639-40;  his  home-lot  was  on  the  east  side 
of  the  road  to  the  Cow  Pasture,  afterward  called  Burr  St.,  now  North 
Main  St.  He  served  in  the  PequotWar;  freeman,  May,  1658;  chimney- 
viewer,  1670;  d.  March  31,  1681.  Inv.  £232.  12.  10.  In  his  will,  dated 
1677,  he  names  wife  Anne,  who  d.  Aug.  31,  1683.  —  Ch. :  i.  Samuel,  free- 
man, May,  1658;  m.  Mary,  dau.  of  John  Baysey,  chimney-viewer,  1665; 
d.  in  Hfd.,  Sept.  29,  1682.  Inv.  £521.  13.  ii.  Thomas,  born  Jan.  26, 
1645-6,  in  Hartford;  m.  Sarah,  living  in  1731.  [See  Speck.]  iii.  Mary,  m. 
(1)  Christopher  Crow,  Jan.  15,  1657  ;  (2)  Josiah  Clarke,  of  Windsor,  before 
1682.  iv.  Hannah,  m.  Sept.  1681,  Andrew  Hillyer,  of  Simsbury,  d.  Sept., 
1684.  The  Burrs  have  been  prominent  in  Hartford;  Messrs.  A.  E.  Burr 
and  F.  L.  Burr,  editors  of  the  Hartford  "  Times,"  are  descendants  of  Thomas 
Burr,  above. 

Deacon  Richard  Butler,  Cambridge,  1632;  freeman,  Mass.,  May  14,  1634; 
removed  to  Hartford,  an  original  proprietor,  in  1639-40,  when  16  acres  were 
allotted  to  him.  His  house-lot  was  on  the  corner  where  the  road  from  George 
Steele's  to  the  South  Meadow  intersected  the  road  from  the  Mill  to  the 
Country.  He  was  a  juror,  1643-4-7-8;  townsman,  1649,  1654,  1658; 
one  of  the  committee  for  the  mill,  1661  ;  grand  juror,  1660,  1662  ;  deputy, 
1656-1660;  one  of  the  deacons  of  the  1st  Church;  d.  Aug.  6,  1684  ;  inv. 
£564.  15.  His  1st  wife's  name  is  unknown,  but  his  2d  was  Elizabeth. 
Hinman  says  that  he  m.  Elizabeth  Bigelow  before  he  came  to  Hartford.  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Butler  d.  Sept.  11,  1691.  —  Ch.  :  i.  Sergeant  Thomas,  freeman, 
Feb.  26,  1656-7;  chimney-viewer,  1667,  1668;  townsman,  1682,  1683;  m. 
Sarah,  dau.  of  Rev.  Samuel  Stone  ;  d.  Aug.  29,  1688,  leaving  4  sons  and  8  daurs. 
ii.  Deacon  Samuel;  freeman, Oct.  12,  1665  ;  m.  Elizabeth  Olmsted (1) ;  settled 
in  Wethersfield ;  d.  Dec.  31,  1692.  iii.  Nathaniel,  b.  prob.  ab.  1641 ;  freeman, 
May,  1668  ;  d.  in  Wethersfield,  Feb.  9, 1697,  aged  56.  iv.  Joseph,  b.  ab.  1647  ; 
freeman,  May,  1668;  m.  1667,  Mary,  dau.  of  William  Goodrich,  of  Wethers- 
field ;  d.  in  Wethersfield,  Dec.  10,  1732,  in  the  85th  year  of  Ids  age.  v.  Ser- 
geant Daniel ;  received  his  father's  home-lot  in  Hartford ;  m.  Mabel,  dau.  of 
Nicholas  Olmsted,  of  Hartford;  townsman,  1685;  d.  March  28,  1692.  Inv. 
£391.  1.  vi.  Mary,  m.  Sept.  29,  1659,  Samuel  Wright,  of  Wethersfield. 
vii.  Elizabeth,  m.  Deacon  Joseph  Olmsted,  of  Hartford,  viii.  Hannah,  m. 
Greene. 

William  Butler,  Cambridge,  1634;  freeman,  Mass.,  May  6,  1635;  was  an 
original  proprietor  at  Hartford,  and  received  28  acres  in  the  distribution  of 
1639-40  ;  his  house-lot  was  on  the  road  from  the  Little  River  to  the  North 
Meadow  (now  Front  St.),  bounded  W.  by  John  Talcott's  land.  He  m. 
Eunice,  sister  of  Tristram  Coffin,  of  Nantucket;  d.  1648,  without  wife  or  ch., 
leaving  by  his  will,  dated   May  11,  the  greater  portion  of  his  estate  to  his 


234  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

brother,  Deacon  Richard  Butler.  He  mentions  children  of  his  sister  West, 
and  his  sister  Winter,  "living  in  Old  England,"  and  gives  "three-skore 
pounds"  to  the  Church  of  Hartford.     Inv.  £429.   3 

Clement  Chaplin  (Chaplain),  b.  ab.  1587  ;  son  of  William  Chaplin,  of  Semer, 
Co.  Essex ;  was  a  chandler  in  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  Co.  Suffolk ;  embarked  in 
the  "Elizabeth  &  Ann,"  from  London,  April,  1635,  aged  48  ;  freeman,  Mass., 
March  3,  1635-6;  deputy,  May,  1636.  An  original  proprietor  at  Hartford, 
and  his  home-lot,  in  1639-40,  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  main  street,  south 
of  the  Meeting-House  Yard,  now  Central  Row.  He  did  not  settle  here,  and 
his  allotment  of  land  was  declared  forfeited,  Jan.  10,  1639-40,  and  Mr.  Hop- 
kins, Mr.  Wells,  Mr.  Talcott,  and  Wm.  Spencer  were  desired  to  deal  with  Mr. 
Chaplin  about  his  lands.  He  had  been  treasurer  of  the  colony  in  1638,  set- 
tled in  Wethersfield ;  deputy  from  there,  1643-4.  His  wife  was  Sarah 
Hinds,  dau.  of  a  goldsmith  in  Bury  St.  Edmunds.  He  returned  to  Eng- 
land after  1646,  and  his  will  is  in  the  Registry  of  Probate,  London.  There, 
he  is  called  of  Thetford,  Co.  Norfolk,  clerk  ;  gives  to  his  wife,  Sarah,  "  Houses 
and  lands  lying  and  being  in  Harford  and  Wethersfield,  in  New  England  ; " 
mentions  his  brother,  "Mr.  William  Chaplaine,  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  and 
"  his  kinsman,  Mr.  William  Clarke,  of  Rocksbury,  in  New  England  ; "  proved 
1656.     His  widow  sold  land  in  Hartford  to  Mr.  Henry  Wolcott. 

Mrs.  Dorothy  Chester,   widow  of  John  Chester  of  Blaby,  Co.  Leicester,  Esq., 

twas  an  original  proprietor  at  Hartford  in  1639;  her 
home-lot  was  on  the  west  side  of  Main  St.  near  Cen- 
tinel  Hill.  She  d.  1662  ;  inv.  taken  May  27,  1662, 
£33.  11.8.  Edward  Stebbing  appointed  to  administer 
the  estate  (personal),  and  to  pay  the  debts,  the  remain- 
der to  be  at  his  dispose.  She  was  a  dau.  of  Thomas 
Hooker,  of  Marfield,  Co,  Leicester,  and  a  sister  of 
Rev.  Thomas  Hooker.  —  Ch.  :  i.  Leonard,  b.  July  15, 
1610,  at  Blaby;  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Wethers- 
field ;  he  m.  Mary  Wade,  widow,  dau.  of.  Mr.  Nicholas 
Sharpe;  d.  Dec.  11,  1648,  lost  on  Mount  Lamentation. 
the  Chester  arms.  H  Elizabeth,  b.  Feb.  6,  1624-5. 
Richard  Church,  Hartford,  1637,  was  an  original  proprietor,  and  received,  in 
1639-40,  a  home-lot  on  the  east  side  of  the  road  to  the  Cow  Pasture  (North 
Main  St.)  ;  freed  from  watching  and  warding,  etc.  March,  1655  ;  chosen 
chimney-viewer,  1648;  surveyor  of  highways,  1655.  Removed  to  Hadley 
with  "the  withdrawers,"  in  1659;  d.  there,  Dec.  16,  1667.  His  widow, 
Anne,  d.  March  10,  1684,  aged  83.  — Ch:  i.  Edward,  b.  1628,  Hatfield, 
ii.  John,  Hartford;  b.  ab.  1636  ;  freeman,  1658;  m.  Oct.  27, 1657,  Sarah,  dau. 
of  Richard  Beckley,  of  New  Haven;  died  1691 ;  inv.  Nov.  9.  He  was  the 
progenitor  of  those  of  the  name  in  Hartford,  iii.  Samuel,  Hadley. 
John  Clarke,  prob.  came  in  the  "  Elizabeth,"  from  Ipswich,  Co.  Suffolk,  April, 
1634;  he  was  a  soldier  in  the  Pequot  War,  and  was  one  of  the  owners  of 
that  tract  of  land  in  Hartford  known  as  the  "  Soldier's  Field."  An  original 
proprietor;  his  home-lot  in  1639-40  was  on  the  west  side  of  the  highway 
from  Seth  Grant's  to  Centinel  Hill  (now  Trumbull  St.),  near  the  present 
Allyn  St.  "He  probably  removed  from  Hartfojd  previously  to  1655,  for 
his  name  does  not  appear  in  the  list  of  tax-payers  in  the  '  mill-rates,'  for  the 
years  1655,  1656,  or  1657,  which  are  preserved.  His  name  is,  however, 
found  in  the  lists  of  '  the  proprietors  of  undivided  lands  in  Hartford,  with 
such  of  their  proportions  in  one  division  as  followeth,  according  to  which  pro- 
portions they  paid  for  the  purchase  of  said  lands  in  the  years  1665,  1666, 
1671,  and  1672.'  These  divisions  of  the  'undivided  lands'  were,  however, 
made  to  non-residents,  and  even  to  the  heirs  of  deceased  proprietors."1     John 

1  Gay's  Clark  Genealogy,  pp.  8,  10. 


THE   ORIGINAL   PROPRIETORS.  235 

Clark  was  juror  at  Hartford,  Sept.,  1641  and  Oct.,  1642  ;  deputy,  May,  1649. 
Dr.  Trumbull  thinks  that  this  John,  Clark  is  the  one  who  was  at  Saybrook 
later ;  but  there  is  an  inextricable  confusion  between  the  three  John 
Clarks,  at  Hartford,  Saybrook,  and  Farmington.  John  Clark  was  directed 
by  the  General  Court  "  to  carry  on  the  building  of  the  fort"  with  Capt.  Mason. 
The  will  of  John  Clark,  of  Saybrook,  is  recorded  at  New  Haven,  and  is  dated 
Feb.  17,  1672,  at  the  beginning,  and  Jan.  19,  1673,  at  the  end.  Inv.  Feb. 
28,  1673. 

Nicholas  Clarke,  Cambridge,  1632,  arrived  at  Boston  in  the  "  Lion,"  Sept. 
16,  1632  ;  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Hartford.  Lt.  Col.  John  Talcott 
states  in  his  memorandum-book  that  his  father's  house  was  the  first  built  in 
Hartford,  "and  was  done  by  Nicholas  Clark,  the  first  winter  any  Englishmen 
rought  or  built  in  Hartford,  which  was  the  year  1635."  An  original  pro- 
prietor, his  home-lot  in  1639  was  bounded  on  the  N.  E.  by  the  road  to 
the  Soldier's  Field,  and  on  the  S.  W.  by  the  road  to  the  Neck.  He  served  in 
the  Pequot  War;  d.  July  2,  1680.  —  Ch. :  i.  Thomas,  Hartford;  freeman, 
1658;  d.  1695.  Inv.  £456.  15.  9.  ii.  A  dau.,  m.  Alexander  Douglass,  of 
Hartford ;   iii.  A  dau.,  m.  Leister,  of  New  London. 

William  Clarke,  Hartford,  1639,  servant  of  John  Crow ;  the  town  granted  to 
him  half  of  John  Pearce's  allotment  in  1642.  He  removed  to  Haddam,  where 
he  d.  July  22,  1681. 

James  Cole,  a  cooper,  an  original  proprietor,  Hartford,  1639,  when  his  house-lot 
was  on  the  east  side  of  Main  Street,  near  the  South  Green,  running  back  to 
the  street  afterwards  called  Cole  St.;  he  had  another  house-lot  in  1639,  on 
the  east  side  of  Meeting-House  Yard.  He  m.  in  England,  Ann  Edwards, 
widow,  the  mother  of  William  Edwards ;  and  he  came  to  New  England  with 
his  wife,  her  son  William,  and  his  dau.,  Abigail,  by  a  former  wife.  He  d.  in 
1652;  inv.  £116.  3.  4.  Widow  Ann  Cole,  d.  Feb.  20,  1679-80.— Ch.  : 
i.  Abigail,  m.  Daniel  Sullavane,  or  Sillivane,  of  New  Haven,  before  1652. 
Sullivane  m.  Elizabeth,  dau.  of  George  Lamberton,  of  New  Haven,  1654. 

Sergt.  William  Corxwell,  Roxbury,  1634;  Hartford,  1639,  one  of  the  proprie- 
tors to  whom  land  was  granted  "  by  the  courtesie  of  the  town."  He  removed 
to  Middletown  about  1650 ;  deputy  from  there,  1654,  1664,  1665  ;  d.  Feb. 
21,  1677-8,  leaving  wife,  Mary. 

Johx  Crow  was  born  in  1606;  came  to  New  England  in  1634.  He  became 
possessed,  by  vote  of  the  town,  of  the  original  right  of  Bartholomew  Greene, 
forfeited  by  death.  He  m.  Elizabeth,  only  child  of  Elder  William  Goodwin. 
Chosen  surveyor  of  highways,  1656.  He  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  and  the  largest  landholder  in  Hartford.  "  He  owned  a 
tract  of  land  [in  East  Hartford]  extending  from  near  the  present  Hockanum 
bridge,  north  to  the  neighborhood  of  '  Smith's  Lane,'  and  running  eastward  to 
the  end  of  the  three-mile  lots.  (Bolton.)  Crow  Hill  in  the  river  swamp 
still  retains  his  name."  1  He  went  with  his  father-in-law  to  Hadley  in  1659  ; 
freeman,  Mass.,  1666  ;  he  returned  to  Hartford  about  1675,  and  he  and  his 
wife  were  admitted  to  the  South  Church,  March  31,  1678  ;  d.  Jan.  16,  1686. 
—  Ch.  :  i.  Esther,  b.  1628;  m.  1655,  Giles  Hamlin,  Esq.,  of  Middletown; 
d.  Aug.  25,  1.700,  aged  72.  ii.  John,  lived  in  Fairfield ;  was  a  merchant  in 
the  West  India  trade;  d.  at  sea,  1667,  s.  p.  iii.  Mary,  m.  (1)  Dec.  27,  1666, 
Noah  Coleman,  of  Hatfield  ;  (2)  Sept.  16,  1680,  Peter  Montague,  of  Hadley  ; 
she  d.  Oct.  12,  1720.  iv.  Nathaniel,  lived  in  East  Hartford;  m.  Deborah 
;  d.  July  30,  1695  ;  his  widow  m.  Andrew  Warner,  of  Hartford,  after- 
ward of  Windham.  v.  Elizabeth,  b.  1644;  m.  (1)  William  Warren,  of 
Hartford ;  (2)  Phineas  Wilson,  of  Hartford,  a  wealthy  merchant  from  Dub- 
lin;  he  d.  May  22,  1692,  and  after  his  death  she  continued  his  business,  and 

1  Goodwin's  East  Hartford,  p.  49. 


236  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

became  the  most  extensive  banker  in  the  Colony.  She  was  accustomed  to 
loan  money  on  mortgage  not  only  to  citizens  of  Hartford,  but  in  the  adjacent 
towns,  and  she  managed  her  affairs  with  wisdom  and  judgment.  She  d.  July 
9  or  19,  1727,  aged  86(1),  leaving  a  large  property  and  many  legacies, 
vi.  Sarah,  b.  March  1,  1646-7,  in  Hartford  ;  m.  Nov.  1,  1661,  Daniel  White,  of 
Hatfield;  d.  June  29,  1719,  aged  72.  vii.  Anna,  or  Hannah,  b.  July  13,  1649  ; 
m.  March  7,  1667-8,  Thomas  Dickinson;  he  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Hadley,  but  removed  to  Wethersfield  in  1679  ;  d.  there,  1716.  viii.  Mehita- 
bel,  b.  ab.  1652;  m.  Sept.  24,  1668,  Colonel  Samuel  Partridge,  of  Hadley 
and  Hatfield;  d.  Dec.  8,  1730,  aged  78.  ix.  Ruth,  m.  (1)  Dec.  21,  1671, 
William  Gaylord,  of  Hadley;  (2)  ab.  1681,  John  Haley,  of  Hadley.  x. 
Samuel,  m.  May  17,  1671,  Hannah,  dau.  of  Capt.  William  Lewis,  of  Farming- 
ton  ;  slain  at  Fall's  fight,  May  18,  1676.  xi.  Daniel,  b.  ab.  1656;  lived  in 
Hartford;  d.  Aug.  12,  1693,  aged  37,  s.  p. 

Captain  John  Cullick  came  from  Felstead,  Co.  Essex.  He  was  an  original 
proprietor,  Hartford,  1639,  and  received  from  the  town  the  land  assigned  to 
Jonathan  Ince  ;  his  home-lot  in  1639  was  on  what  is  now  the  East  Park, 
lying  between  the  river  and  Elm  St.  He  also  was  granted  a  lot  in  the 
Soldier's  Field,  for  services  in  the  Pequot  War.  Chosen  townsman,  1644; 
deputy,  1644,  1646,  1647;  Magistrate  and  Secretary  of  the  Colony,  1648, 
which  offices  he  filled  until  1658.  His  first  wife  d.  in  1647,  and  he  m.  (2) 
May  20,  1648,  Elizabeth  Fenwick,  sister  of  Sir  George  Fenwick.  He  served 
as  Commissioner  of  the  United  Colonies  for  Connecticut,  1652-1654.  Re- 
moved to  Boston,  and  was  received  into  the  church  there,  Nov.  27,  1659, 
with  his  wife  and  elder  children,  Mary  and  John ;  d.  in  Boston,  Jan.  23, 
1662-3.  His  widow  m.  (2)  Richard  Ely,  of  Boston,  afterward  of  Say  brook  ; 
d.  Nov.  12,  1683. 

Philip  Davis,  tailor,  held  land  here  in  1639-40,  on  the  south  side  of  the  road 
from  George  Steele's  to  the  South  Meadow.  Chosen  chimney-viewer,  1653  ; 
freeman,  1656;  constable,  1660;  townsman,  1667,  1671,  1675,  1680,  1684; 
fence-viewer,  1668,  1669,  1673.  He  m.  Esther,  dau.  of  Thomas  Coleman, 
of  Wethersfield  ;  d.  in  1689  ;  inv.  Oct.  22,  £375.  13.  2.  —  Ch.  :  i.  Lydia,  m. 
Nov.,  1676,  Nathaniel  Cole,  of  Hartford ;  d.  Jan.  25,  1683-4.  ii.  Hannah, 
m.  John  Grave,  of  Hartford,  1690,  as  his  second  wife. 

Fulke  Davy  sold  his  house  and  lot  to  Nathaniel  Ward  before  Jan.,  1639-40, 
and  probably  removed  from  Hartford  ;  he  witnessed  a  grant  from  Jas.  Fassett 
to  Lion  Gardner,  of  Isle  of  Wight,  March  10,  1639-40  ;  signed  the  petition 
from  Jamaica,  Middleborough,  and  Hempsted,  L.  I.,  to  be  taken  under  Conn, 
government. 

Robert  Day  came  in  the  "  Elizabeth,"  from  Ipswich,  Co.  Suffolk,  to  Boston, 
in  April,  1634,  aged  30,  with  wife,  Mary,  aged  28  ;  freeman,  Mass.,  May  6, 
1635.  An  original  proprietor  at  Hartford  ;  his  home-lot  in  1639  was  on  the 
road  from  Centinel  Hill  to  the  North  Meadow,  near  the  junction  of  the  streets 
now  Main  and  Village  streets.  He  was  chosen  viewer  of  chimneys  and  ladders, 
1643.  His  first  wife  is  supposed  to  have  died  before  his  removal  to  Hartford, 
and  hem.  (2)  Editha,  sister  of  Deacon  Edward  Stebbins.  He  d.  in  1648; 
will  dated  May  20;  inv.  Oct.  14,  £142.  13.  6.  His  widow,  Editha,  m.  (2) 
John  Maynard,  of  Hartford  ;  (3)  1658,  Elizur  JLalyoke,  of  Springfield. — 
Ch. :  1.  Thomas,  removed  to  Springfield,  1658;  m.  Oct.  27,  1659,  Sarah, 
dau.  of  Lieut.  Thomas  Cooper;  freeman,  1668;  d.  Dec.  27,  1711.  ii.  John, 
Hartford  ;  received  the  property  of  his  stepfather,  John  Maynard,  by  his  will ; 
m.1  Sarah,  dau.  of  Thomas  Butler,  of  Hartford  ;  in  the  distribution  of  Thomas 
Butler's  estate,  1697,  John  Day's  wife  was  one  of  the  heirs  ;  freeman,  May, 
1680  ;  d.  in  Hartford  ab.  1730.     iii.   Sarah ;  m.  (1)  Nov.  17,  1658,  Nathaniel 

says  he  m.  Sarah  Maynard,  but  he  is  probably  mistaken. — See  Hinman,  p.  456. 


THE   ORIGINAL   PROPRIETORS.  237 

Gunn,  of  Hartford;  (2)  Nov.  24,  1664,  Samuel  Kellogg,  of  Hatfield,  and  was 
killed  with  her  son,  Joseph,  by  the  Indians,  Sept.  19,  1677.  iv.  Mary,  b.  ab, 
1641  ;  in.  (1.)  Oct.  28,  1659,  Samuel  Ely,  of  Springfield  ;  (2)  April  12,  1694. 
Thomas  Stebbins,  of  Springfield ;  (3)  Dec.  11,  1696.  Deacon  John  Coleman, 
of  Hatfield;  d.  Oct.  17,  1725,  aged  84.  The  Hon.  Thomas  Day,  Secretary 
of  State,  and  president  of  the  Conn.  Historical  Society,  was  a  descendant  of 
Thomas,  of  Springfield,  as  also  was  the  late  Hon.  Calvin  Day. 

Nicholas  Desborough  (Disbro,  Desbrough,  Disborow,  Desbrow),  Hartford, 
1639,  a  proprietor  "by  courtesie  of  the  town";  his  home-lot  was  on  the  east 
side  of  road  to  the  Cow  Pasture  (North  Main  St.),  not  far  from  the  pres- 
ent tunnel.  He  served  in  the  Pequot  War  ;  received  a  grant  of  fifty  acres  for 
his  services,  May  11,  1671.  He  m.  1640,  Mary  Brunson,  prob.  sister  of 
John.  Chosen  chimney-viewer,  1647,  1655,  1663,  1669;  surveyor  of  high- 
ways, 1665  ;  freed  from  training,  etc.,  March  6,  1672-3,  when  sixty  years  old. 
He  m.  (2),  after  1669,  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Thwaite  Strickland.1  Cotton 
Mather  (Magnalia,  vi.  69)  tells  a  marvellous  story  of  molestations  in  Des- 
borough's  house  by  invisible  bauds,  in  1683.  He  d.  in  1683  ;  inv.  Aug.  31, 
£81.  15.  — Ch.:  i.  Mary,  m.  Obadiah  Spencer,  of  Hartford,  ii.  Sarah,  m. 
Samuel  Eggleston,  of  Middletown  ;  d.  1683,  aged  71.  iii.  Phebe,  bapt.  Dec. 
20,  1646  ;  m.  John  Kelsey,  of  Hartford,  who  removed  to  Killingworth.  iv. 
Abigail,  b.  Feb.  1,  1648-9;  m.  (1)  Robert  Flood,  of  Wethersfield ;  (2) 
Matthew  Barry. 

Deacon-  Joseph  Easton,  born  ab.  1602,  Cambridge;  freeman,  March  4,  1635; 
an  original  proprietor  at  Hartford  ;  his  home-lot,  in  1639,  was  on  the  south 
side  of  the  highway,  now  Elm  St.,  near  the  west  end.  Chosen  chimney- 
viewer,  1649;  surveyor  of  highways,  1652,  1656,  1666;  constable,  1658. 
He  m.  Hannah,  dau.  of  James  Ensign,  of  Hartford.  He  bought  land  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  of  Richard  Goodbman,  and  was  one  of  the  committee  on 
fencing  the  meadow  in  L683  ;  d.  Aug.  19,  1688,  aged  86. —Ch.  :  i.  Joseph, 
settled  in  East  Hartford;  lived  in  the  North  Meadow  ab.  1700;  chimney- 
viewer,  1669;  townsman,  1704;  deacon;  d.  Dec.  30,  1711.  ii.  John,  Hart- 
ford ;  admitted  to  the  South  Church,  Aug.  28,  1670  ;  surveyor  of  highways, 

1671;  townsman,  L693;  m.  Elizabeth ,  who  d.  June  10,  1710.     He  d. 

Nov.  2,  1716.  iii.  Mary,  m.  John  Skinner,  of  Hartford  ;  d.  June  18,  1695. 
iv.  Sarah,  m.  Robert  Shirley,  of  Hartford.  Colonel  James  Easton,  of  Hartford, 
afterward  of  Pittsfield,  who  was  associated  with  Colonel  Ethan  Allen  in  the 
taking  of  Ticonderoga,  was  a  great-grandson  of  Joseph  Easton,  of  East  Hartford. 

William  Edwards,  Hartford,  1639,  came  with  his  mother  and  stepfather,  Mr. 
James  Cole;  m.  ab.  1645,  Agnes,  widow  of  William  Spencer,  of  Hartford  ;  free- 
man, May,  1658;  chimney-viewer,  1668;  d.  before  1672.  — Ch.  :  1.  Richard, 
b.  May,  1647  ;  m.  Nov.  19,  1667,  Elizabeth,  dau.  of  William  Turtle,  of  New 
Haven;  divorced  from  her  in  1691  ;  m.  (2)  ab.  1692,  Mary,  dau.  of  Lt.-Col. 
John  Talcott,  of  Hartford.  He  was  an  attorney  at  law,  and  a  very  prominent 
man  in  his  day.  He  d.  April  20,  1718.  His  widow,  Mary.  d.  April  19,  1723. 
His  eldest  son,  the  Rev.  Timothy  Edwards,  of  East  Windsor,  was  the  father 
of  the  great  theologian,  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  through  him  Richard  Edwards 
was  the  ancestor  of  many  distinguished  men,  scholars,  divines,  and  statesmen. 

Edward  Elmer,  Cambridge,  came  in  the  "Lion,"  arriving  Sept.  16,  1632,  with 
Talcott,  Goodwin,  Olmsted,  and  others ;  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of 
Hartford  ;  his  home-lot,  in  1639,  was  on  the  east  side  of  Main  Street,  next 
north  of  John  Talcott.  Chosen  chimney- viewer,  1651  ;  removed  to  North- 
ampton about  1656  ;  went  from  there  to  Windsor,  on  the  east  side  of  the 

1  Elizabeth,  dau.  of  Edward  Shepard  of  Cambridge,  prob.  m.  (1)  Thwaite  Strickland,  of 
Hfd. ;  (2)  Nicholas  Disboro,  Gregory  Wilterton  gave  her  land  in  Hfd.  by  deed,  with  reversion 
to  her  dau.  by  her  first  husband,  Thwaite  Strickland,  and  her  sons,  John,  Joseph,  Jonathan, 
and  Ephraim  Strickland.     The  dau.  m.  John  Andrews.  —  Gen.  Reg.  xxxix.  192  ;  xxxiii.  356. 


238  MEMORIAL   HISTORY   OF   HARTFORD   COUNTY. 

river  ;  freed  from  watching  and  warding,  March  5,  1667-8  ;  killed  by  the  In- 
dians in  King  Philip's  war,  in  1676,  leaving  a  widow,1  Mary,  who  m.  Thomas 
Catlin,  of  Hartford,  as  2d  wife.  Inv.  £471.  15.  3.  —  Ch.  :  i.  John,  b.  ab. 
1646  ;  m.  ab.  1669,  Rosamond  Ginivare,  of  Hartford,  Mr.  Eliezer  "Way's  maid  ; 
d.  in  Windsor,  Dec.  21,  1711.  ii.  Samuel,  bapt.  Hartford,  March  21,  1646-7; 
settled  in  East  Windsor ;  m.  and  had  descendants,  iii.  Elizabeth,  bapt. 
Hartford,  July  15,   1649;   died  before  her  father,      iv.    Edward,  b.   1654; 

m.  Rebecca  before  March,   1685-6,  of  Windsor  ;   of  Northampton  in 

1729.  v.  Joseph,  b.  1656,  Northampton;  d.  July,  1657.  vi.  6.  Mary,  b. 
Northampton,  1658;  m.  Joseph  Garrett,  or  Garrard,  of  Hartford,  1696, 
afterward  of  Glastonbury,  1729.  vii.  Sarah,  b.  1664,  in  East  Windsor;  m. 
Thomas  Long,  of  Hfd.  (q.  v.). 

Nathaniel  Ely,  Cambridge,  1632;  freeman,  Mass.,  May  6,  1635;  an  original 
proprietor  at  Hartford  ;  his  house-lot  was  next  north  of  Edward  Elmer,  where 
Music  Hall  now  stands  ;  constable,  1640;  townsman,  1644,1650;  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  agreement  for  planting  Norwalk,  June  19,  1650,  and  probably 
removed  there  soon  after;  he  sold  land  to  John  Talcott,  Sept.,  1650,  and 
to  Richard  Butler,  1652.  He  was  deputy  from  Norwalk,  1657  ;  removed  to 
Springfield  in  1660,  where  he  d.  Dec.  25,  1675.  His  widow,  Martha,  d. 
Oct.  23,  1688. 

James  Ensign  (Ensing),  Cambridge,  1634;  freeman,  Mass.,  March  4,  1635;  an 
original  proprietor  at  Hartford,  1639  ;  his  home-lot  was  on  the  south  side  of 
the  highway  now  Elm  St.;  chosen  constable,  1649,  1662;  chimney-viewer, 
1655  ;  townsman,  1656.  He  and  his  wife,  Sarah,  were  original  members  of 
the  South  Church,  Feb.  12,  1670.  He  d.  1670;  will  dated  Nov.  23;  inv. 
Dec.  23,  £729.  2.  9.  His  widow,  Sarah,  d.  in  1676;  inv.  taken  May  29, 
1676. —Ch.  :  i.  Sarah,  m.  May  6,  1651,  John  Rockwell,  of  Windsor;  d. 
June  23,  1659.  ii.  David,  b.  ab.  1644,  Hartford;  m.  Oct.  22, 1663,  Mehitabel, 
dau.  of  Thomas  Gunn,  of  Windsor  ;  she  obtained  a  divorce  from  him,  October, 
1682;  chimney-viewer,  1666;  surveyor  of  highways,  1669.  iii.  Mary,  m. 
ab.  1662,  Samuel  Smith,  of  Northampton,  afterward  of  Hadley.  iv.  Hannah, 
m.  Joseph  Easton  (q.  v.).     v.  Lydia,  bapt.  Aug.  19,  1649. 

Zachary  Field  was  an  original  proprietor.  Hartford,  1639.  His  home-lot  was 
on  the  east  side  of  the  road  to  the  Cow  Pasture  ;  chosen  chimney -viewer,  1 650 ; 
constable,  1652  ;  removed  to  Northampton  about  1659,  thence  to  Hatfield, 
1663  ;  d.  June  28,  1666.     His  wife's  name  was  Mary. 

Thomas  Fisher,  freeman,  Mass.,  March  4,  1634-5  ;  owned  a  house  in  Newtown, 
Feb.  8,  1635-6  ;  bought  Win.  Kelsey's  lot  there,  April  19,  1636.  The  home- 
lot  reserved  for  him  in  Hartford  was  settled  on  Thomas  Spencer.  Porter 
says  John  Holloway  had  it. 

John  Friend,  Salem,  1637,  was  at  the  River's  mouth  (Saybrook),  with  John 
Winthrop  ;  he  owned  a  lot  in  Hartford,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  eight 
acres,  which  he  sold  to  William  Gibbons  before  Jan.  7,  1639-40,  and  he  sold 
part  of  his  house-lot  to  George  Wyllys  before  that  time.  Savage  says  that  he 
was  an  inhabitant  of  Boston  in  1640.  In  1651,  May  14,  he  was  plaintiff  in 
an  action  for  debt  at  Hartford,  Thomas  Bull  being  his  attorney  ;  d.  1656. 

Samuel  Gardiner  (Gardner)  was  one  of  several  persons  to  whom  lots  were 
granted  in  1640,  "  if  the  Townsmen  see  noe  just/Cause  to  the  contrary,  and 
they  will  accept  of  them  vppon  such  tearmes  as  the  Townsmen  shall  see  cause 
to  propose."  He  is  said  to  have  been  at  Wethersfield  ;  removed,  1663,  to 
Hadley.     His  wife's  name  was  Elizabeth.     He  d.  June  21,  1676. 

Daniel  Garret  (Garrard,  Garwood)  was  a  proprietor  "  by  courtesie  of  the 
town;"  his  home-lot,  in  1639,  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  road  to  the  Cow 
Pasture,  near  the  north  end ;    freeman,  April  9,  1 640  ;    appointed  master  of 

1  See  County  Court  Records,  iv.  25,  39  ;   Colonial  Records,  vol.  iii.  Book  D.  ;  Windsor 
Land  Records,  i.  242. 


THE   ORIGINAL   PROPRIETORS.  239 

the  prison,  July  11,  1654  ;  chimney-viewer,  1G56.  Hinman  says  he  was  the 
first  that  kept  the  new  jail,  and  he  continued  the  prison-keeper  for  many 
years;  living  in  1687,  aged  75. — Ch.  :  i.  Daniel,  bapt.  in  Hartford,  Jan. 
24,  1646-7.  ii.  Joseph;  m.  Mary,  dau.  of  Edward  Elmer,  ab.  1678;  living 
in  Hartford  in  1696,  afterward  in  Windsor  and  Wethersfield,  and  in  Glas- 
tonbury in  1729. 

John  Gennings  (Ginnings)  was  a  proprietor  "  by  courtesie  of  the  town,"  and 
his  home-lot,  in  1639,  was  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  now  Asylum  Hill,  abut- 
ting on  the  highway  on  the  west,  on  the  west  field  on  the  east,  on  Richard 
Lord's  land  on  the  north,  and  on  Nathaniel  Bearding's  land  on  the  south.  He 
probably  d.  not  long  after  1640.1  —  Ch.  :  i.  Nicholas,  came  in  the  "Francis," 
from  Ipswich,  1634,  aged  22;  he  also  was  a  proprietor  at  Hartford,  "by 
courtesie  of  the  town,"  in  1639,  and  his  home-lot  was  on  the  east  side  of  the 
road  to  the  Cow  Pasture  ;  the  town  voted,  Jan.  13,  1639-40,  "that  Nicho- 
las Genings  shall  be  sent  vnto  to  come  vnto  the  Towne  in  a  certeine  tyme 
lymited  and  to  take  up  his  habitacon  heer,  or  else  his  lotts  to  returne  vnto 
the  Townes  handes,  paying  him  for  the  worth  of  the  labour  done  vppon  it." 
Oct.  28,  1640,  his  house-lot  "  and  y*  in  the  Pyne  field  "  were  given  to  Thomas 
Porter;  but  he  was  here  shortly  after,  and  owned  a  house-lot,  which  he  bought 
of  William  Adams,  of  Farmington,  "abutting  on  the  highway  leading  from 
Thomas  Stanton's  to  the  Pound  hill,"  on  the  east.  He  m.  Mary  Bedford. 
He  appears  to  have  left  Hartford  sometime  between  1650  and  1660.  Mat- 
thew Beck  with  bought  three  parcels  of  land  of  him  in  1650,  apparently  all 
he  owned.  Oct.  16,  1673,  administration  was  granted  to  John  Ginnings  on 
the  estate  of  his  father,  Nicholas  Ginings,  "  sometime  of  Saybrook."  ii. 
Joshua  (prob.  a  son  of  John)  bought  land  of  Thomas  Allcock  (Olcott),  being 
the  western  portion  of  Olcott's  home-lot ;  and  he  owned  also  another  parcel 
of  land  with  tenement,  part  of  which  he  received  from  the  town,  and  part 
of  which  he  bought  of  Olcott,  "abutting  on  the  meeting-house  lott  on  the 
east,  on  a  highway  on  the  south,  and  on  Thomas  Olcott's  land  on  the  west 
and  north."  He  m.  Dec.  23,  1647,  Mary  Williams;  removed  to  Fairfield 
ab.  1656;  d.  there,  1676. 

William  Gibbons  was  Mr.  Wyllys's  steward,  and  came  to  Hartford  in  1636,  with 
twenty  men,  to  build  a  house  and  prepare  a  garden  for  his  employer.  He  was 
an  original  proprietor  of  Hartford,  and  in  the  distribution  of  1639  received  a 
home-lot  on  the  east  side  of  the  highway  now  Governor  St.,  south  of  Char- 
ter Oak  St.  Chosen  juror,  1643;  townsman,  1643,  1652;  constable,  1647; 
surveyor  of  highways,  1648.  He  d.  in  1655;  will  dated  Feb.  28,  1654-5  ; 
inv.  Dec.  2,  1655,  £1499.  14.  5.  He  mentions  his  wife,  Ursula;  daus. 
Mary  and  Sarah ;  brothers,  Richard,  Jonathan  or  John,  and  Thomas  G.  in 
England ;  sister  Hidgcoke,  brother  Hidgcoke,  and  their  son,  John ;  gave  land 
at  Pennywise  "  towards  ye  maintenance  of  a  Lattin  schoole  at  Hartford  " ; 
40 p.  to  the  Artillery  in  Hartford.  —  Ch.  :  i.  William,  b.  ab.  1639  (aged  ab. 
54,  March,  1693)  ;  not  named  in  his  father's  will.  ii.  Mary.  iii.  Sarah,  b. 
Aug.  17,  1645  ;  m.  (1)  Hon.  James  Richards,  of  Hartford  (q.  v.);  (2)  as  his 
second  or  third  wife,  Humphrey  Davie,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  son  of  Sir  John 
Davie,  Bart.,  of  Greedy,  Co.  Devon  ;  (3)  May  30,  1706,  Col.  Jonathan  Tyng, 
of  Dunstable,  Mass.  ;  d.  Feb.  8,  1714.  One  of  her  daughters,  Jerusha 
Richards,  was  the  wife  of  Gov.  Gurdon  Saltonstall ;  and  another,  Elizabeth 
Richards,  m.  John  Davie,  Harvard  Coll.,  1681  ;  he  settled  in  Pequonnock, 
now  Groton,  in  1693  ;  in  1707  he  received  the  news  of  his  accession  to  the 
Baronetcy,  and  went  to  England  to  take  possession  of  his  inheritance,  Greedy, 
near  Exeter,  Co.  Devon.  Elizabeth,  Lady  Davie,  d.  at  Greedy,  1713;  Sir 
John  d.  1727. 

1  Savage  says  that  John  Jennings  removed  from  Hartford  to  Southampton,  in  1641,  where 
he  was  in  1664. 


240  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  HARTFORD  COUNTY. 

Deacon  Richard  Goodman,  Cambridge,  1632,  perhaps  the  freeman  of  May  14, 
1634;  an  original  proprietor  at  Hartford,  1639,  when  his  home-lot  was  on  Main 
St.,  directly  north  of  the  Meeting-House  Yard;  chosen  townsman,  1642, 1647, 
1652;  surveyor  of  common  lands  and  fences,  1648;  fence-viewer,  1650; 
juror,  1643,  1645;  sergeant  of  the  trainband,  1650;  constable,  1656.  He 
m.  Dec.  8,  1659,  Mary,  dau.  of  Stephen  Terry,  of  Windsor ;  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Hadley  ;  slain  by  the  Indians,  April  1,  1676,  aged  ab.  67. 
His  widow  died  in  Deerfield,  1692.  — Ch.  :  i.  John,  b.  Oct.  13,  1661  ;  Had- 
ley. ii.  Richard,  b.  March  23,  1663;  removed  to  Hartford  after  1678;  m. 
Abigail,  dau.  of  John  Pantry,  of  Hartford;  she  d.  Jan.  26,  1708,  aged  29  ; 
he  d.  May  4  or  14,  1730.  His  son,  Richard  Goodman,  and  his  grandson, 
Lieut.  Richard  Goodman,  ob.  1845,  were  both  wealthy  and  prominent  citizens 
of  Hartford,  iii.  Stephen ;  d.  early,  iv.  Mary.  v.  Elizabeth,  vi.  Thomas, 
Hadley.     vii.  Samuel,  b.  May  5,  1675. 

Elder  William  Goodwin  sailed  from  London  in  the  ship  "Lion,"  June  22, 
1632,  with  Olmstead,  Talcott,  etc. ;  arrived  in  New  England,  Sept.  16, 
1632;  freeman,  Mass.,  Nov.  6,  1632;  deputy  from  Newtown,  May  14, 
1634;  came  to  Hartford  prob.  in  1636,  and  was  an  original  proprietor; 
his  home-lot  was  on  Main  St.,  extending  from  the  present  Wadsworth  St. 
to  Arch  St.  He  was  a  man  of  great  influence  in  Church  and  State,  and 
prominent  in  all  the  early  transactions  of  the  Hartford  settlement ;  he  pur- 
chased large  tracts  of  land  up  the  river,  and  Avas  one  of  the  agents  of  the 
town  employed  to  purchase  Farmington  from  the  Indians.  Gov.  Hopkins 
appointed  him  one  of  the  trustees  of  his  will,  and  he  therefore  was  one  of 
those  who  had  charge  of  establishing  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School.  He 
was  an  ardent  friend  of  Hooker,  but  after  his  death  was  deeply  involved  in 
the  great  dissension  in  the  church  at  Hartford,  and  after  several  years  of 
controversy  "  the  Withdrawers,"  as  they  were  called,  under  the  leadership 
of  Goodwin  and  Gov.  John  Webster,  removed  to  Hadley  in  1659.  He  was 
Ruling  Elder  of  the  church  there,  and  remained  there  about  ten  years,  then 
removed  to  Farmington,  where  he  d.  March  11,  1673.  His  widow,  Susanna, 
d.  in  Farmington,  May  17,  1676.  —  Ch.  :  i.  Elizabeth,  m.  John  Crow,  of 
Hartford  and  Hadley  (q.  v.). 

Ozias  Goodwin  was  born  ab.  1596  (he  testified  that  his  age  was  78,  in  1674)  ; 
a  brother  of  Elder  William  Goodwin ;  he  m.  Mary,  dau.  of  Robert  Woodward, 
of  Braintree,  Co.  Essex,  and  very  prob.  came  from  that  region  himself.  He 
was  one  of  the  proprietors  "  by  courtesie  of  the  town,"  and  his  home-lot  was 
on  the  west  side  of  the  highway  leading  from  Seth  Grant's  to  Centinel  Hill, 
now  Trumbull  St.,  containing  four  acres.  He  signed  the  agreement  to 
remove  to  Hadley  in  1659,  but  did  not  go.  A  home-lot  of  eight  acres  was 
assigned  to  him  at  Hadley,  and  Dec.  19,  1661,  the  grant  was  renewed,  pro- 
vided that  he  should  take  up  his  residence  by  the  middle  of  May ;  "and  Mr. 
Goodwin  (Wm.)  engages  for  his  Brother."     He  d.  prior  to  April,  1683.     Inv. 

April  3,  £129.  4.  — Ch. :   i.  William,  b.  ab.  1629;  in.  Susanna ;  who 

she  was  is  unknown,  excepting  the  fact  that  she  had  a  sister,  Sarah  Fruen, 
who  was  betrothed  to  Thomas  Greenhill ;  freeman,  May  21,  1657  ;  chimney- 
viewer,  1672  ;  d.  in  Hartford,  Oct.  15,  1689.  In  his  will,  dated  June  25, 
1689,  he  gives  to  his  son,  William,  land  "formerly  belonging  to  my  uncle, 
John  Morris,  of  Hartford,"  but  just  what  the  relationship  was  is  unknown. 
His  widow,  Susanna,  m.  ab.  Aug.,  1691,  John  Shepard,  Sr.,  of  Hartford,  as  his 
second  wife.  ii.  Nathaniel,  b.  ab.  1637;  freeman,  Oct.,  1662;  m.  (1)  Sarah 
dau.  of  John  and  Hannah  Cowles,  of  Hatfield,  Mass.,  afterward  of  Farming- 
ton  ;  d.  May  8,  1 676,  aged  29  ;  he  m.  (2)  Elizabeth,  dau.  of  Daniel  Pratt. 
Chosen  townsman,  1670,  1677,  1682,  1695,  1706  ;  his  will  is  dated  Aug.  21, 
1712;  inv.  Jan.  29,  1713-14.  iii.  Hannah,  b.  ab.  1639;  m.  ab.  1660-1, 
William  Pitkin,  of  Hartford';  d.  Feb.  12,  1723-4,  in  her  eighty-fifth  year. 


THE   ORIGINAL  PROPRIETORS.  241 

Ozias  Goodwin  has  a  numerous  posterity,  and  Lis  descendants  have  been 
prominent  among  our  best  citizens.  The  late  Judge  Nathaniel  Goodwin, 
the  distinguished  antiquarian  and  genealogist,  was  a  great-great-grandson  of 
Nathaniel,  above.  In  the  line  of  Nathaniel,  by  his  second  wife,  were  his 
great-grandson,  George  Goodwin,  of  the  firm  of  Hudson  &  Goodwin,  for  many 
years  publisher  of  the  "  Connecticut  Courant,"  and  also  the  late  Major  James 
Goodwin. 

Seth  Grant  came  to  New  England  in  the  "Lion,"  Sept.  16,  1632,  with  Good- 
win, Olmsted,  etc.  ;  he  was  an  original  proprietor  of  Hartford,  and  his  home- 
lot,  in  1639,  was  on  the  southeast  corner  of  the  highways  now  Pearl  and 
Trumbull  streets.  He  d.  prob.  in  1646-7;  inv.  March  4,  1646-7,  £141.  10.  8. 
His  children  are  mentioned  several  times  in  the  Book  of  Distribution.  Paul 
Peck  bought  land  of  the  estate  ;  June  10,  1651,  Bartholomew  Barnard  owned 
land  "in  the  Neck,"  bounded  N.  by  land  belonging  to  S